Columbia  (Bntoerritp 

THE  LIBRARIES 


€en  <8yot\)s  of  €l)ttrd)  Ijistorg 


©Mtefc  bg 

M)n  iuiton,  ID.S3.,  CC.JD. 


mi.  i 


£en  <£poc#e  of  £$mc§  f  isfovg 

THE    APOSTOLIC    AGE 

ITS  LIFE,  DOCTRINE,  WORSHIP 
AND  POLITY 


BY 
JAMES  VERNON  BARTLET,  M.A. 

SOMETIME    SCHOLAR    OF    EXETER    COLLEGE,    OXFORD 
AND    SENIOR    UNIVERSITY    GREEK    TESTAMENT    PRIZEMAN 
LECTURER    IN    CHURCH    HISTORY    IN    MANSFIELD    COLLEGE 


& 


(Ttet»  ngorft 


MDCCCXCIX 


Copyright,  1899,  by 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


Cf^l 


6 


2^* 


TO  MY   PARENTS 
MY  FIRST  TEACHERS  IN   RELIGION 

TO  Drs.   A.   M.   FAIRBAIRN   AND  W.  SANDAY 
MY  EARLIEST  MASTERS  IN  THEOLOGY 


312908 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 

THE  FIRST  GENERATION :  A.  D.  29-62. 

PAGE 

CHAP.  I. — Eaely  Palestinian  Days — The  Kingdom  of  Is- 
rael,— St.  Paul  on  Christ's  Resurrection. — The  Cbristoph- 
anies. — The  Return  to  Jerusalem. — The  Gift  of  Tongues. 
— In  Paul  and  Acts. — The  Messianic  Community. — The 
Old  and  the  New  Israel. — The  Primitive  Preaching. — 
The  Challenge  of  the  Authorities. — Steadfastness  of  the 
Apostles. — Popularity  and  Second  Arrest. — The  Seven 
Almoners. — Stephen. — Stephen's  Speech. — Scattering  and 
Extension. — Simon  Magus,  and  the  Eunuch. — Saul  the 
Persecutor. — Saul  the  Christian. — The  Case  of  Cornelius. 
— Peter  in  Cornelius'  House. — The  Prohlem  of  the  Gen- 
tiles          1 

CHAP.  II. — The  Field  Broadens — Antioch  and  Jerusa- 
lem.— Herod's  Persecution. — Paul's  Second  Visit  to  Je- 
rusalem.— A  Revelation  its  Occasion. — Its  Date  and  Na- 
ture.— Not  that  of  Acts  xv. — The  Issue  already  involved. 
— The  Nature  of  the  Issue 47 

CHAP.  III. — The  First  Missionary  Journey — Cyprus. — 
The  New  Outlook. — The  Advance  into  Galatia. — Pisidian 
Antioch. — Turning  to  the  Gentiles. — Iconium. — Lystra. — 
The  Return  Journey. — Judaizing  Reaction. — Paul's  At- 
titude :  '  Galatians.' — The  Jerusalem  Conference. — James' 
Summing  Up. — Significance  of  the  Problem. — The  Chris- 
tianized Dispersion 64 

CHAP.  IV.— The  First  European  Mission— Timothy 
Joins  Paul. — Timothy's  Special  Gift. — Philippi. — Im- 
prisonment and  Release. — Troubles  at  Thessalonica. — 
Paul  at  Athens.— Paul  on  Mars'  Hill.— Slight  Effect  of 
His  Speech. — Corinth,  and  the  Thessalonian  Letters. — 
Their  Primitive  Teaching. — Early  Form  of  the  Christian 
Hope. — Christian  Life,  Personal  and  Social. — Persecution 
of  Sosthenes. — Antioch  Once  More  .    .        92 

CHAP.  V. — Work  in  Asia  and  Greece  :  Consolidation 
— Apollos. — Certain  Disciples  at  Ephesus. — Ephesus. — 
Exorcism  and  Magic. — Trials  and  Dangers  at  Ephesus. — 
The   Converts   at   Corinth. — The   Judaizers'    Attack   on 


Contents. 

PAGE 

Paul. — What  the  Corinthian  Letters  Involve. — 1  Corin- 
thians.— Practical  Details.— The  Lost  Letter. — 2  Corin- 
thians.—The  Riot  at  Ephesus.— The  Attitude  of  the  Au- 
thorities.—First  Visit  to  Qoriuth.— The  Collection  : 
Fields  Beyond.— Troas:  Ohject  of  the  Journey.— The 
Address  at  Miletus. — Forebodings 120 

CHAP.  VI. — Imprisonment  and  Martyrdom — Purifica- 
tion in  the  Temple. — Before  the  Sauhedriu. — Before 
Felix  ;  Confined  in  Csesarea. — Felix's  Treatment  of  Paul. 
— The  End  Hinted. — The  End  of  Acts.— Some  Incidents 
of  the  Voyage.— Roman  Judaism.— Paul's  Preaching  in 
Rome. — The  Ephesian  Church.— The  Instructions  to 
Timothy.— Origin  of  the  Letter  to  Titus. — Jewish  and 
Pagan  Notions  Compared.— Epaphras'  Report  of  the  Co- 
lossians.— General  Nature  of  Ephesians.— Paul  Among 
His  Friends.— The  Desertion  of  Demas.— Paul's  Isola- 
tion at  Rome. — His  Optimism  for  the  Cause. — Paul's 
Last   Days.— Lightfoot  on  the  Partition  Theories  .    .    .    160 

CHAP.  VII.— Later  Palestinian  Days— The  Sadducees 
and  Herodians  un-Jewish. — Ringleaders  of  Zealotry. — The 
Martyrdom  of  James. — James'  Death  Interpretative  of 
Hebrews. — Inconsecutiveness  of  Acts. — Itineraries  of  the 
Apostles. — Rank  of  James  the  Lord's  Brother. — Contrast- 
ing Views  of  the  Thorah. — James'  Zeal  not  Pharisaic  but 
Esseuic—  Concordat  Supported  by  Christian  Conscious- 
ness.—Paul's  Attitude  at  Antioch.— James  more  Jewish 
than  Peter. — Yet  no  Judaizer  :  His  Epistle. — James' 
Semi-Prophetic  Strain. — Jewish  Christians  Among  the 
Diaspora. — Messianic  Rule  Offensive  to  Rich  and 
"Wise." — Unworldliuess  the  Essence  of  James'  Idea. 
— Spheres  of  Belief  and  conduct  Inseparable. — Faith  not 
to  be  Divorced  from  Works. — Essential  Agreement  be- 
tween James  and  Paul. — James'  Emphasis  of  Private 
Ministry. — James  Imbued  with  the  Master's  Personal- 
ity.— James  not  Jesuitical  or  Dominican. — Coherence  of 
James' Epistle  and  the  Didach6.— The  Negative  'Golden 
Rule.'— The  Rule  of  love.— The  Way  of  Death  a  Cata- 
logue of  Vices. — Internal  Evidence  of  an  Early  Date      .    203 


BOOK  II. 

THE  AGE  OF  TRANSITION :  A.  D.  62-70. 

CHAP.  I. — Judaism  and  the  Empire — Strife  with  Romans 
in  Jerusalem  and  Csesarea. — Earlier  Stages  of  the  War. — 
The  Holy  City  Profaned  by  the  Zealots. — The  Situation 


Contents. 


PAGE 

on  the  Death  of  Nero. — Rise  of  the  New  Dynasty. — The 
Defence  of  Jerusalem. — Josephus'  Account  of  the  War. — 
Danger  of  Exclusive  Judaism  Averted 260 

CHAP.  II. — Palestine  and  the  Epistle  "  to  Hebrews  " 
— Problems  of  James'  Martyrdom. — The  Writer's  Identity 
Mysterious. — His  Purposes  in  the  Epistle. — Warnings 
and  Remonstrances. — The  Final  Appeal:  its  Meaning. — 
The  Sequel. — The  Judaeo-Christian  Attitude. — Chris- 
tians in  Galilee. — Roman  Suspicion  of  the  Messianic 
Hope      277 

CHAP.  III. — Asia  Minor  and  First  Peter— Peter's 
Leanings  toward  Paul. — He  Counsels  Patience. — His 
Debt  to  the  Pauliue  Epistles. — Peter  and  Paul  in  Rome. 
— Peter's  Faith  and  Death 297 

CHAP.  IV. — North  Syria  and  the  Didache — The  "Di- 
dache^" Analyzed. — The  Baptismal  Formula. — The 
Lord's  Prayer  and  Doxology. — Encharistic  Prayers. — 
"The  Holy  Vine  of  David"  not  Jesus. — Origins  of  the 
Metaphor. — The  Johanuiue  Tradition. — The  Silence  as 
to  the  Cross. — The  Great  Vogue  of  the  Didache\ — Its 
Ecclesiastical  Portions.— Abuses  of  Prerogative. — Condi- 
tions of  the  Eucharist. — The  Election  of  Bishops  and 
Deacons. — Concern  for  Purity  of  Communion. — The 
Epilogue. — The  Three  Signs. — The  New  Conception  .    .    309 

CHAP.  V. — The  Epistle  of  Jude  and  II  Peter — Cur- 
rent view  of  the  Unseen  World. — Antiuomian  Theology. 
— J ude's  Ethical  Teaching. — Period  of  Transition    .    .    .    344 

CHAP.  VI.— Early  Wtritten  Gospels— Christ's  Practical 
Teaching. — The  "Sayings  of  Jesus." — Difference  from 
the  Evangelists. — The  Glorified  Christ. — The  Ideal  or 
Mystical  Element. — Oral  Tradition. — Lack  of  Historical 
Coherence. — Mark,  and  his  Gospel. — Genesis  of  Matthew's 
Gospel. — New  Color  Given  to  the  Tradition 352 


BOOK  III. 

THE  SECOND  GENERATION:  TRIALS  AND 
CONSOLIDATION. 

CHAP.  I. — After  the  Storm:  The  Epistle  of  Barna- 
bas— The  Epistle  of  Barnabas. — Contents  of  the  Epistle. 
— Two  Kinds  of  Ideas. — Judaism  and  the  Gospel. — Views 
of  the  Jewish  Bible. — Relations  of  the  Old  and  New. — 
Genuine  Piety  of  "Barnabas." — Date  of  "Barnabas"  .    372 

CHAP.  II. — The  Apocalypse  of  John — True  Theory  of 
the  Apocalypse.— Christian  View  of  Rome. — The  Coming 


Contents. 


PAGE 

of  Anti-Christ. — John's  Idea  of  the  Church  or  Bride. — 
The  True  Judaism. — Persecution  and  other  Dangers. — 
"The  Deep  Things  of  Satan."— "The  Hidden  Manna." 
— Date  of  the  Apocalypse. — Its  Relative  Significance  .    .    388 

CHAP.  III. — Empire  verses  Church  :  Luke— Practical 
Aim  of  Luke. — Christians  and  the  Courts. — The  Case  of 
Flavins  Clemens. — The  Gospel  for  Man  as  Man  ....    409 

CHAP.  IV. — "The  Churches  of  Asia" — Second  and 
Third  John — False  "Progress"  Condemned. — First 
John.— Relation  with  the  Asian  Churches. — The  New 
Commandment. — Erroneous  Christology. — John's  Prac- 
tical Attitude. — The  Religious  Life. — Motive  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel.— First  Draft  and  Appendix.— Mysticism, 
Pauline  and  Johannine. — The  Synoptics  Supplemented,  418 

CHAP.  V.— Rome  and  Corinth  :  Clement's  Epistle— 
Life  of  the  Roman  Church. — Roman  Notion  of  Corin- 
thian Affairs.— Not  quite  True  to  the  Facts.— Gifts,  and 
the  Lead  in  Worship. — Direction  of  Christian  Sentiment 
at  Rome. — The  Christians'  Sacrifice  of  Prayer.— Origin 
of  Liturgical  Prayer. — Clement  of  Rome 442 


BOOK  IV. 

CHURCH  LIFE  AND  DOCTRINE. 

CHAP.  I. — CHURcn  Fellowship. — Baptism. — Confirma- 
tion.— The  Eucharist. — Domestic  Eucharists,  and  Agapre. 
— Pliny's  Report. — Variation  of  Church  Customs. — Status 
of  Children. — Spontaneous  Simplicity  of  the  Age      .    .    459 

CHAP.  II. — Organization  and  Discipline — The  Minis- 
try.— Apostle  Authority. — Origins  of  Organizations. — 
Ministerial  Functions. — "Charismatic"  Gifts. — Appoint- 
ment of  Ministers. — No  Episcopal  System. — The  Congre- 
gation the  Unit. — Practical  Ethics. — Ethical  Changes 
Wrought 476 

CHAP.  III. — Types  of  Doctrine — Judas — Christianity  and 
the  Cross. — The  Pauline  Experience. — Its  Anti-Legal  ism. 
— The  Divine  Life  in  Man. — Post-Apostolic  Doctrine  .    497 

Literary  Appendix 509 


PREFACE. 

HE  late  appearance  of  this  volume  in  the 
series  to  which  it  belongs,  calls  for  a 
word  of  explanation.  It  is  scarcely  two 
years  since  the  death  of  Bishop  A.  C. 
Coxe,  of  Western  New  York,  who  had 
already  put  his  hand  to  the  work,  led  to  the  task 
being  transferred  to  the  present  writer.  Under 
these  circumstances  he  hopes  that  the  original  sub- 
scribers will  not  grudge  the  time  taken  in  carrying 
through,  amid  other  duties,  the  needful  studies  and 
reducing  the  results  to  something  like  unity. 

How  far  this  volume  may  deserve  its  place  in  "  a 
series  of  popular  monographs,"  its  author  is  hardly 
able  to  judge.  But  he  has  at  any  rate  tried  to  avoid 
abstract  or  artificial  grouping,  and  to  describe  the 
concrete  life  of  the  Apostolic  Age  as  it  manifested 
itself,  now  here,  now  there,  at  the  points  of  greatest 
activity.  In  this  way  the  emphasis  and  perspective 
of  the  facts,  whether  of  the  Church's  "  constitution, 
fundamental  polity,  doctrine,  worship,  or  social  and 
spiritual  life,"  seem  to  have  the  best  chance  of  tell- 
ing on  the  mind  directly  and  in  their  own  right. 
Only  in  three  chapters  at  the  end  has  a  formal  at- 
tempt been  made  to  systematize  some  of  the  facts 
already  presented,  for  the  most  part,  in  their  own 
proper  contexts. 

i 


ii  Preface. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  present  series  the  "  Apos- 
tolic Age  "  is  taken  as  ending  only  with  the  close  of 
the  first  century.  It  covers,  that  is,  two  full  gener- 
ations of  the  Church's  opening  life ;  during  which, 
as  it  is  believed,  one  apostle  at  least,  John  the  son  of 
Zebedee,  perpetuated  the  memories  of  the  original 
circle  of  the  Founder's  disciples.  Here  already 
there  is  a  blending  of  "Apostolic"  and  "sub-Apos- 
tolic "  Christianity — to  use  the  terms  in  their  more 
limited  senses— and  a  corresponding  overlapping  of 
canonical  and  non-canonical  Christian  literature.  In 
the  text,  which  may  generally  be  read  with  only 
quite  occasional  use  of  footnotes  (added  mainly  for 
the  sake  of  the  studious),  the  author  has  aimed  at 
writing  pure  history,  without  staying  to  point  any 
far-reaching  moral.  But  a  preface  is  perhaps  a  fit 
place  in  which  to  throw  out  a  few  hints  to  those  un- 
familiar with  the  problems  involved  in  a  history  of 
the  Apostolic  Age. 

The  historian  has  to  mediate  between  the  mind 
of  his  own  age  and  the  facts  of  past  ages.  This 
task  is  the  harder,  yet  the  more  needful,  in  propor- 
tion as  the  facts  are  themselves  of  the  mental  order. 
For  such  must  be  seen  first  and  foremost  through  the 
souls  of  the  men  and  women  in  whom  they  once 
lived,  if  they  are  to  be  other  than  the  mirage  of  our 
own  latter-day  consciousness.  The  historian  of  the 
Apostolic  Age,  then,  has  to  make  live  again  to  the 
reader's  imagination  the  complex  world  of  thought 
and  action  to  which  primitive  Christian  experience 
— even  where  most  under  the  renovating  sway  of  the 
New  Message — was  largely  relative.     As  surely  as 


Preface.  iii 

the  men  of  that  age  looked  on  the  universe  in  the 
light  of  the  Ptolemaic  or  geocentric  system,  so 
surely  did  they  view  life  all  round  by  the  aid  of  in- 
tellectual forms  often  correspondingly  diverse  from 
ours.  Here  lies  the  main  difficulty  for  the  reader 
of  the  New  Testament.  He  is  ever  coming  upon 
phrases  that  do  not  really  appeal  to  him,  ideas  that 
he  cannot  personally  assimilate,  however  deeply  in 
sympathy  he  may  be  with  the  general  spirit  of  the 
whole  or  even  of  the  special  passage  in  question. 
His  embarrassment  is  just  the  same  as  an  early 
Christian  would  experience,  if  confronted  with  a 
mediaeval  or  modern  book  on  religion.  The  back- 
ground taken  for  granted,  because  part  of  the  culture 
of  the  age,  is  in  each  case  unrealized:  the  larger  con- 
text is  lacking.  It  is  this  which  the  historian  has  to 
supply.  He  has,  in  a  word,  to  make  himself  and  his 
fellows  the  intellectual  contemporaries  of  the  men  of 
his  story.  In  the  end,  nothing  should  seem  strange  or 
pointless.  In  this  light  our  Introductory  chapter  is 
the  most  necessary  of  all.  Its  chief  defect  is  not  its 
length,  but  rather  its  inadequacy  to  the  function  of 
making  the  reader  contemporary  with  Peter,  Paul, 
Apollos,  John — acquainted  with  all  the  social,  moral, 
and  intellectual  conditions  of  Judaism  in  and  beyond 
Palestine,  and  with  life  in  the  great  centres  of  the 
Empire.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  the  effect  of  it 
may  be  felt  in  the  enhanced  actuality  and  point  of 
much  that  follows. 

A   master   of   the   subject1   reckons  as  our  chief 

1  Haruack,  "Research  in  early  Church  History,"  Contemporary 
Review,  Aug.  1886. 


iv  Preface. 

recent  gain  in  early  Church  history,  the  fact  that  we 
have  become  "richer  in  historical  points  of  view." 
He  cites  as  a  palmary  instance  the  perception — so 
fatal  to  one  famous  account  of  the  Catholicism  of 
the  second  century,  as  a  compromise  between  Judaeo- 
Christian  and  Pauline  tendencies — that  Paul's  spe- 
cial mode  of  thought  never  laid  hold  of  Gentile 
Christians  as  a  class :  that,  in  fact,  their  Christianity 
was  from  the  first  continuous  rather  with  a  prior 
type  of  monotheistic  religion,  midway  between  the 
more  liberal  Judaism  outside  Palestine  and  the 
better  Graeco-Roman  sentiment  on  Providence  and 
on  morality  as  essential  worship.  The  same  scholar 
also  alludes  to  our  growing  sense  of  the  many 
and  varied  religious  types  embraced  within  Judaism 
itself.  On  this  latter  idea  I  have  been  led  to  lay 
peculiar  stress,  as  on  one  not  even  yet  sufficiently 
applied  to  New  Testament  literature.  Dr.  Hort 
has  extended  it,  with  good  results,  to  the  errors  de- 
scribed in  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  He  may  not  there, 
or  in  the  matter  of  the  Colossian  errors,  have  at- 
tained final  results.  But  the  tendency,  namely  to 
use  all  known  Jewish  types  of  thought  to  explain 
varieties  emerging  among  the  Christians,  is  a  true 
one:  and  I  have  ventured  to  carry  it  further,  in 
viewing  the  most  primitive  Juclseo-Christian  piety, 
notably  that  of  the  Epistle  of  James  and  the  Didache, 
as  largely  conditioned  by  nurture  on  the  "  Wisdom  " 
literature  of  Judaism. 

If  the  reader  rises  from  the  perusal  of  these  pages 
with  a  fresh  feeling  for  the  diversity  in  unity  charac- 
teristic of  the  Apostolic  Age,  he  will,  I  believe,  make 


Preface.  V 

no  mistake.  The  age  was  pre-dogmatic.  It  was 
swayed  simply  by  a  religious  impression  of  the  new 
and  joyous  vision  of  God  as  revealed  in  the  Christ, 
and  of  Christ  as  Lord  of  the  spiritual  world  and  so 
the  Son  of  God  in  a  religious  sense.  Beyond  this 
the  common  consciousness  did  not  go.  The  essen- 
tially religious  and  vital  quality  of  its  faith  is  shown 
in  the  unembarrassed  freedom  with  which,  in  differ- 
ent circles,  it  instinctively  expressed  itself  in  terms 
of  its  own  prior  mental  training.  "  No  man  can 
(truly  or  religiously)  say,  •  Jesus  is  Lord,'  save  in 
virtue  of  (the)  Holy  Spirit " :  this  was  the  common 
foundation,  the  Gentile  equivalent  of  Peter's  "  Thou 
art  the  Christ."  Thereafter,  efforts  to  grasp  intel- 
lectually the  meaning  of  this  vital  and  experimental 
conviction  went  on  under  varying  conditions, 
with  varying  rapidity,  and  with  results  only  par- 
tially known  to  us.  For  nearly  all  records,  save 
what  in  this  connection  we  may  style  the  Christian 
Classics,  the  writings  of  the  Apostles  and  those 
closely  associated  with  them,  have  failed  to  survive : 
and  of  the  few  which  do  survive,  only  the  Didache 
seems  unaffected  by  such  Apostolic  writings. 

All  the  more  striking,  then,  is  the  unity  of  spirit 
amid  the  diversity  of  thinking.  "  In  things  neces- 
sary unity,  in  things  secondary  liberty,  in  all  things 
charity " :  if  this  be  the  abiding  motto  of  a  true 
Catholicity,  then  the  Apostolic  Age  realized  it  to  the 
full.  And  its  necessary  things  were  few,  simple,  but 
radical ;  reducible  in  the  last  resort  to  one — the 
heart's  devoted  faith  in  one  Lord,  as  pledged  in  bap- 
tism and  evinced  in  obedience  of  life.     But  that  one 


vi  Preface. 

thing  involved  and  carried  with  it  all  else  needful  for 
life  and  godliness.  May  the  experience  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Age,  as  it  becomes  better  known  not  only  in 
detail  but  also  in  its  underlying  conception  of  what 
Christian  religion  really  is,  yet  prove  the  great 
Eirenicon,  harmonizing  the  distinctions  to  which  its 
partial  rediscovery  at  the  Reformation  gave  rise 
under  the  peculiar  political  and  mental  conditions 
of  the  sixteenth  century. 

My  large  indebtedness  to  many  scholars  of  my 
own  and  other  lands,  beyond  that  hinted  in  text  and 
footnotes,  I  here  gladly  acknowledge.  Yet  no  effort 
has  been  spared  to  see  the  facts  afresh  with  one's 
own  eyes.  Indeed  I  could  wish  that  this  had  not 
led  so  often  to  the  necessity  of  striking  out  rather 
an  independent  path  on  literary  questions.  But  my 
hope  is  that,  either  in  text  or  Literary  Appendix, 
due  notice  of  alternative  views  has  always  been 
given.  Finally,  my  special  thanks  are  due  to  my 
friend,  A.  S.  Peake,  M.  A.,  late  Fellow  of  Merton 
College,  and  now  of  Manchester,  who  under  no 
slight  stress  of  time  perused  my  first  proofs  and 
made  some  valued  suggestions. 

Vernon  Bartlet. 

Oxford,  June,  1899. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

1.      SCOPE,  SOURCES,  CHRONOLOGY. 

HE  "  Apostolic  Age  "  is  generally  taken 
to  cover  the  period  of  some  forty  years 
between  the  Crucifixion  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Temple.  Within  this  falls  not 
only  the  narrative  contained  in  Acts,  but 
also  nearly  all  that  we  can  reckon  historic  in  what 
reaches  us  otherwise  touching  the  original  Apostles, 
those  namely  who  were  contemporaries  of  their  Lord, 
Jesus  Christ.  In  particular,  these  years  embrace  the 
whole  course  of  the  two  chief  founders  of  the  actual 
Church  of  the  first  century,  Peter,  the  Apostle  of  the 
Jews,  and  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  Yet, 
in  spite  of  this  and  of  the  momentous  change  in 
men's  thoughts  as  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  wrought 
by  the  ruin  of  the  Jewish  State  and  temple-worship 
in  70  A.  D.,  there  is  another  and  larger  sense  in 
which  the  "Apostolic  Age"  closes  only  with  the 
end  of  the  century,  when  the  living  voice  of  the  last 
of  Christ's  personal  disciples  became  silent  among 
men  by  the  decease  of  the  Apostle  John.  Nor  was 
he  the  sole  survivor  into  the  period  between  70  and 
100.  For  beside  some  traditional  traces  of  a  few  of 
the  Twelve  as  still  at  work,  there  survived  others  of 
the  large  body  of  personal  disciples,  reckoned  at  120 
in  the  earliest  Jerusalem  days  (Acts  i.  15).     These, 

vii 


viii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

by  continuing  in  their  own  persons  the  original 
Apostolic  traditions,  continued  also  in  a  real  sense 
the  Apostolic  Age.  It  is  with  this  larger  mean- 
ing, then,  that  we  invest  the  phrase  in  what  fol- 
lows. 

The  scope  of  our  subject  being  defined,  we  have 
yet  to  consider  briefly  the  nature  of  the  sources 
whence  comes  our  knowledge  of  it.  First  and  fore- 
most, of  course,  in  point  of  fulness,  explicitness,  and 
continuity,  is  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  an  ordered 
and  highly  finished  historical  composition,  written 
on  a  definite  plan  and  with  definite  aims,  and  so  in- 
volving an  interpretation  of  primitive  Christianity. 
All  agree  that  it  is  no  bare  chronicle,  compiled  with- 
out selective  insertion  or  omission,  and  therefore 
without  artistic  perspective  or  emphasis.  But  is  it 
a  fundamentally  true  interpretation,  or  does  its  per- 
spective distort  the  real  history  as  it  occurred?  This 
is  the  crucial  question  for  every  student  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Age  :  "  what  think  you  of  Acts — is  it  genuine 
history  or  has  idealism  largely  come  between  its 
author  and  the  reality?"  The  answer  to  this  de- 
pends mainly  on  our  estimate  of  its  relation  to  our 
second  prime  source  of  information,  St.  Paul's  Epis- 
tles. 

Since  the  time  of  Paley's  Horce  Paulines,  with 
its  principle  of  "  undesigned  coincidences,"  the 
Pauline  Epistles  have  been  used  by  exact  scholars 
of  all  schools  as  the  true  criterion  of  historicity  in 
Acts.  For  the  special  nature  of  these  letters  as  per- 
sonal, occasional,  and  utterly  unstudied  productions, 
addressed  to  limited  groups  of  readers  for  purposes 


Introductory.  ix 

remote  from  those  of  historical  narrative,  sets  them 
above  all  suspicion  of  coloring  the  past  for  later 
ends ;  and  at  the  same  time  guarantees  the  strictly 
contemporary  character  of  the  evidence  incidentally 
afforded  to  such  matters  of  fact  as  are  alluded  to  in 
them.  Thus  in  the  critical  construction  and  verifica- 
tion of  historic  Christianity — and  that  for  the  gospels 
as  well  as  for  the  Acts — such  Pauline  Epistles  as 
may  at  any  time  be  admitted  to  be  genuine  must 
rank  as  the  bed-rock  whereon  all  securely  rests.  As 
letters  "  they  reflect  the  mood  of  the  time  and  the 
given  circle  with  perfect  vividness  of  light  and  shade, 
ere  it  fades  into  the  neutral  tints  of  a  set  narrative."1 
And  hence  they  are  a  unique  check  upon  the  feelings, 
ideas,  motives,  interwoven  with  the  narrative  in  the 
Acts.  If  it  comes  out  of  the  test  successfully,  it  is 
proved  to  be  history  in  a  sense  in  which  few  ancient 
records  of  the  like  sort — if  indeed  there  be  any  in- 
volving equally  subtle  psychological  situations — can 
aspire  to  the  title.  Whether  it  does  so  emerge  vic- 
torious is  a  point  which  it  would  be  unfitting  here  to 
prejudge.  It  may,  however,  be  remarked  on  the 
threshold,  that  after  considering  the  book  in  the 
light  of  highly  adverse  criticism,  and  having  special 
regard  both  to  the  Pauline  letters  and  to  points  of 
contact  between  Acts  and  its  environment  in  clas- 
sical antiquity,  Professor  W.  M.  Ramsay  in  his  re- 
cent study  of  St.  Paul  places  the  author  of  Acts 
"  among  the  historians  of  the  first  rank."  By  these 
he  understands  those  few,  who,  like  Thucydides,  hav- 
ing "  excellent  means  of  knowledge,  either  through 

1  See  article  "  Epistle,"  in  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  p.  731  a. 


The  Apostolic  Age. 


personal  acquaintance  or  through  access  to  original 
authorities,  bring  to  the  treatment  of  their  subject 
genius,  literary  skill,  and  sympathetic  insight  into 
human  character  and  the  movement  of  events.  Such 
an  author  seizes  the  critical  events,  concentrates  the 
reader's  attention  on  them  by  giving  them  fuller 
treatment,  touches  more  lightly  and  briefly  on  the 
less  important  events,  omits  entirely  a  mass  of  un- 
important details,  and  makes  his  work  an  artistic 
and  idealized  picture  of  the  progressive  tendency  of 
the  period."  1  Here  it  will  be  seen  that  Ramsay  ad- 
mits idealization  to  be  present  in  Acts  only  in  the 
good  sense  of  insight  into  the  motives  at  work  below 
the  surface  of  the  crude  facts :  and  this  conviction 
goes  along  with  another  as  to  the  identity  of  the 
author,  whom  he  regards  as  himself  among  those  de- 
scribed by  the  first  person  plural  in  certain  passages 
of  the  second  part  of  the  work,  and  as  consequently 
one  of  Paul's  companions.  It  is  natural  that,  where 
the  one  conviction  is  not  shared,  its  companion 
should  also  be  discarded.  Thus  many,  and  among 
them  Professor  McGiffert  in  his  recent  work  on  the 
Apostolic  Age  (which  sets  by  no  means  small  store 
by  the  Acts),  regard  the  so-called  "  we  "  passages  as 
belonging  only  to  a  travel-narrative  used  along  with 
other  data  by  the  author  of  Acts.  He  himself,  on 
the  other  hand,  belonging  to  the  second  rather  than 
to  the  first  generation  of  Christians,  was  unable  to 
prevent  certain  conceptions  proper  to  his  own  day 
(c.  80-90)  from  affecting  his  interpretation  of  the 
primitive  facts,  and  so  produces  at  times  an  inac- 
1  St.  Paul,  the  IVaveller  and  the  Roman  Citizen,  pp.  2  ff. 


Introductory.  xi 

curate  picture  of  the  deeds  and  words  of  the  parties 
concerned.     Such  are  the  two  views. 

Leaving,  then,  our  decision  between  these  alterna- 
tives to  work  itself  out  gradually  through  discussion 
of  each  point  on  its  own  merits,  as  it  emerges,  we 
continue  the  enumeration  of  our  materials.  And 
next  one  may  name  the  Apocalypse,  which,  whatever 
its  date  and  authorship  in  its  present  form,  certainly 
contains  passages  reflecting  the  state  of  mind  in 
some  Christian  circle  not  long  after  the  final  agony 
of  the  Jewish  polity,  and  amid  the  persecutions  rife 
under  the  Flavian  dynasty  (70-96).  Most  valuable 
too  for  the  second  generation  are  its  messages  to 
the  Seven  Churches.  These  may  be  supplemented 
by  what  is  implied  touching  the  state  of  various 
Churches  in  the  so-called  "Catholic""  Epistles, 
though  their  evidence  is  far  harder  to  use  on  ac- 
count of  uncertainties  as  to  date,  authorship,  and 
the  localities  addressed. 

Lastly,  a  class  of  evidence  calls  for  notice  which 
needs  the  most  delicate  handling,  that  of  the  Gospels 
themselves.  Of  course  it  is  obvious  that  the  Fourth 
Gospel  has  much  to  teach  us  about  the  state  of 
Christian  thought  in  the  late  decades  of  the  first 
century.  Indeed  Chapter  xx.  31,  read  along  with 
1  John  iv.  2,  virtually  calls  attention  to  a  special  pur- 
pose it  was  meant  to  serve.  But  since  the  Synoptic 
Gospels  make  no  more  claim  than  does  the  Johannine 
Gospel  to  be  exhaustive  narratives  of  the  great  Min- 
istry, it  is  clear  that  selection  among  the  facts, 
whether  of  word  or  deed,  has  here  also  been  at 
work ;  and  this  selection  throws  back  welcome  light 


xii  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

upon  the  instinctive  wants  and  ideals  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Age.  In  this  case,  moreover,  the  selection  in- 
volved is  twofold.  First,  that  working  in  the  Church 
at  large,  causing  it  to  prize  and  preserve  in  its  oral 
instruction  (catechesis)  certain  parts  of  the  rich 
treasure  of  Apostolic  recollections,  while  suffering 
oblivion  to  absorb  much  that  we  could  have  wished 
recorded,  and  which  in  fact  has  been  partly  pre- 
served for  us  through  the  more  subtle  receptivity 
and  long-brooding  memory  of  one  Apostle,  him 
"  whom  Jesus  loved."  And  next,  that  more  local 
and  personal  selection  which  is  involved  in  the  dis- 
tinctive features  and  special  emphasis  or  appeal 
characteristic  of  each  of  the  first  three  Gospels. 
All  this,  if  used  with  due  care,  can  tell  us  a  good 
deal  about  the  Apostolic  Age  through  which  these 
records  were  transmitted,  first  orally,  then  in  smaller 
and  simpler  written  units  than  those  known  to  us, 
(cf.  Luke  i.  1-4,  and,  concretely,  the  sayings  of  Jesus 
in  the  Oxyrhynchus  papyrus  recently  dug  up),  and 
finally  in  those  comprehensive  Gospels  that  by  an 
intrinsic  superiority  survived  and  at  last  became 
canonical.  But  such  indirect  evidence  can  be  read 
only  by  skilled  eyes,  and  even  then  but  tentatively. 

Compared  with  these  Biblical  sources,  and  early 
patristic  writings  like  the  so-called  "  Apostolic  Fath- 
ers," non-Christian  literature  yields  but  little  direct 
result.  Yet  it  is  of  indirect  value,  particularly  as  a 
means  whereby  the  chronological  data  embedded  in 
our  sources  proper  may  be  checked  and  utilized  for 
historical  purposes.  Of  the  writers  who  thus  help 
us  in  one  way  or  another,  one  may  name  Josephus, 


Introductory.  xiii 

born  c.  37-38,  whose  Jewish  War  was  written  before 
79,  and  his  Antiquities  completed  c.  93-94 ;  Tacitus, 
born  c.  54,  whose  Amials,  published  e.  115,  recount 
the  history  of  the  Empire  from  the  death  of  Au- 
gustus to  that  of  Nero:  Pliny  the  elder  and  his 
nephew,  the  well-known  writer  of  Epistles ;  Sueto- 
nius, who  when  private  secretary  to  Hadrian  wrote, 
c.  120,  Lives  of  the  Csesars  (Julius  to  Domitian) ; 
and  finally  Dion  Cassius,  author  of  a  huge  Roman 
history  going  down  to  229.  Of  these  Josephus  is 
of  course  the  most  valuable,  being  well-informed 
on  Palestinian  matters  both  of  fact  and  of  thought, 
though  he  sometimes  accommodated  the  latter  to 
Roman  tastes.  Finally,  in  a  class  by  himself  and 
helping  to  explain  certain  aspects  of  Christian 
thought  in  the  second  generation  in  particular,  we 
have  Philo,  the  Alexandrine  Judseo-Greek  philoso- 
pher, who  died  about  45  A.  D. 

The  chronology  of  the  Apostolic  Age  has  just 
been  alluded  to.  It  eludes  anything  like  precision 
on  our  present  data,  in  spite  of  fairly  numerous  syn- 
chronisms with  Jewish  or  Roman  history.  Separate 
points  will  be  dealt  with  as  they  occur.  But  it 
may  be  useful  to  keep  in  mind  the  following  dates 
as  being  probable.  They  are  for  the  most  part  those 
adopted  by  the  most  recent  writers1  on  the  subject. 

1  Mr.  C.  H.  Turner,  in  the  exhaustive  article  Chronology  of  the 
New  Testament  in  Dr.  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bihle  (T.  &  T. 
Clark),  and  Prof.  B.  W.  Bacon  of  Yale.  Dr.  Ramsay  adds  one 
year,  Bishop  Lightfoot  two  years,  to  the  dates  after  47  A.  D. 
Prof.  McGiffert's  reckoning,  like  Prof.  Harnack's,  places  everything 
ahout  two  to  three  years  earlier  from  the  same  date  onward  :  he 
also  places  Paul's  conversion  about  31-32  A.  D.  The  present 
writer,  while  unable  to  agree  with  the  former  of  these  positions, 
believes  the  latter  very  near  the  truth. 


xiv  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Those  in  italics,  however,  are  preferred  by  the  pres- 
ent writer  for  reasons  to  be  explained. 

A.  D. 

The  Crucifixion  29 

Paul's  Conversion  31-32     (Ramsay  33,  Turner  35-36) 

1st  Visit  to  Jerusalem       34-35    (    "    35-36,        "  38) 

[  Visit  of  Gal.  ii.  44-46} 

Famine  Visit  46  (=  Gal.  ii.,  Ramsay) 

1st  Missionary  Journey  47 

Jerusalem  Conference,  and 

2d  Miss.  Journey       49 
Visit  to  Jerusalem,  and 

3d  Miss.  Journey     52 
Last  visit  to  Jerusalem 

and  Arrest     56 
Rome  reached  early  in  59 

Endof^c<s  61 

Paul's  Martyrdom  61-62    (Turner  64-65,    Lightfoot  67) 

2.      THE   OLD   SOIL. 

The  modern  Christian  mind  is  so  possessed  by  a 
sense  of  the  world-wide  issues  of  Christianity,  that  it 
needs  real  effort  to  picture  to  oneself  the  truth  about 
the  early  days  of  the  faith  with  which  we  feel  our- 
selves to  stand  in  unbroken  continuity.  Yet  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  that  Christianity  first  appeared  in 
the  guise  of  a  reformation  in  a  national  religion,  and 
was  for  a  considerable  time  so  viewed  by  the  bulk 
of  the  people  in  whose  bosom  it  arose.  Accordingly, 
it  is  important  to  realize  the  broad  features  of  Juda- 
ism, the  national  religion  in  question,  at  the  era 
when  the  great  reformation  took  place.  A  prelimi- 
nary sketch  of  these  must  therefore  be  attempted,  in 
order  to  save  embarrassing  the  course  of  our  narrative 
by  piecemeal  references  at  later  stages.  To  attempt 
our  task  without  submitting  one's  imagination  to 
some  such  discipline,  would  be  like  trying  to  grasp 


Introductory.  xv 


the  distinctive  forms  assumed  by  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century  while  in  ignorance  of  the  prior 
condition,  religious,  intellectual,  social  and  political, 
of  the  Western  peoples. 

But  before  trying  to  realize  the  Jewish  antece- 
dents and  environment  of  early  Palestinian  Christi- 
anity, attention  is  due  to  another  aspect  of  the 
Prceparatio  Evangelica,  to  use  Eusebius'  fine  phrase. 
Palestine  was  but  an  obscure,  an  insignificantly 
small,  part  of  the  great  Roman  world,  the  wider  life 
of  which  must  be  kept  steadily  in  view  throughout  the 
Apostolic  Age.  It  is  true  that  its  full  influence  does 
not  appear  until  the  second  and  third  centuries.  And 
yet,  when  all  has  been  said  to  avoid  antedating  such 
influence,  the  Empire  and  the  myriad  forms  of  life 
found  within  the  unity  of  Roman  administration, 
the  "  Roman  Peace,"  must  from  the  first  have  had 
a  profound  bearing  on  all  save  the  most  secluded 
Christian  communities.  So  that  we  are  only  faith- 
ful to  the  facts,  when  we  regard  certain  aspects  of 
the  Empire  as  part  of  that  "  fulness  of  the  time  " 
which  conditioned  God's  sending  forth  of  His  Son, 
to  lead  men  to  a  heavenly  sonship.  Certainly  we 
are  only  true  to  the  spirit  of  the  great  author  of  this 
phrase,  in  whose  writings  we  may  discern  the  first 
germs  of  a  real  philosophy  of  history — Paul  of  Tarsus, 
Roman  citizen  as  well  as  pure  born  Jew.  But  this 
side  of  things  has  been  so  ably  handled  by  Dr.  W. 
M.  Ramsay,  notably  in  his  Paul  the  Traveller  and 
Roman  Citizen,  and  the  theme  so  transcends  the 
limits  at  our  disposal,  that  it  seems  best  to  confine 
our  remarks,  here  and  now,  to  what  is  barely  need- 


xvi  The  Aptostolic  Age. 


ful  to  stimulate  the  reader's  thoughts  in  this  direc- 
tion. 

(a)     The   Moma?i  World. 

Broadly  speaking,  and  with  the  important  excep- 
tion presented  by  the  religious  condition  of  the  Dia- 
spora, the  Jews  scattered  outside  their  Holy  Land, 
one  may  say  that  it  was  on  its  more  external  side 
that  the  Roman  Empire  at  first  affected  Christianity. 
The  wonderful  unification  of  humanity,  at  least 
round  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  secured  by  the  su- 
premacy of  Rome  under  the  early  emperors,  was 
something  hitherto  unparalleled.  The  ease  and 
security  of  transit,  the  network  of  commercial  enter- 
prise, the  dissemination  of  news  and  of  literature — 
multiplied  at  a  great  rate  by  skilled  slave-labor, 
where  one  reader  fed  the  energies  of  many  scribes — 
in  a  word,  the  "  modernness "  of  the  prime  condi- 
tions for  a  cosmopolitan  civilization,  is  what  strikes 
the  student  who  gets  a  little  below  the  surface  of 
classical  literature.  Of  recent  years  the  papyri  dug 
up  in  Egypt,  along  with  contemporary  inscriptions 
and  coins,  have  made  the  first  and  the  nineteenth 
centuries  seem  wonderfully  alike.  And  when  we 
add  to  the  ancient  picture  the  almost  ubiquitous 
Greek  language,  the  advantage  seems  to  remain  with 
the  Roman  world  as  a  field  for  the  spread  of  a  mis- 
sionary religion.  Latin  was,  indeed,  the  language 
of  official  business:  but  Greek  was  the  almost  uni- 
versal speech  of  daily  life,  not  only  throughout  the 
lands  once  parts  of  the  Empire  of  Alexander,  but 
also  in  imperial  Rome  itself.     Here  at  once  we  are 


Introductory.  xvii 


brought  face  to  face  with  the  fact,  one  of  enormous 
historical  and  psychological  interest,  that  our  New 
Testament,  the  Scriptures  of  a  religion  Semitic  in 
origin,  is  entirely  in  Greek. 

The  Greek  in  question  was  not  the  literary  Greek 
familiar  to  classical  scholars,  but  the  speech  of  com- 
mon life  in  and  about  the  Eastern  Mediterranean. 
This  was  the  outcome,  partly  of  the  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  language  as  spread  by  the  conquests  of 
Alexander,  and  partly  of  the  reaction  of  the  non- 
Greek  thought  upon  the  sense  and  form  of  words. 
A  knowledge  of  such  Greek  has  gradually  been 
reaching  us  through  the  modern  study  of  ancient  in- 
scriptions and  of  the  papyri  which  the  dry  soil  of 
Egypt  has  preserved  for  us.  As  a  result,  the  best 
New  Testament  commentaries  are  in  some  respects 
getting  out  of  date.  Of  yet  more  importance  is  the 
fact  that  we  can  now  trace  with  our  own  eyes  the 
process  of  vital  selection  by  which  Christian  thought 
availed  itself  of  the  existing  sacred  usage  of  certain 
words,  where  this  was  not  bound  up  with  idolatry 
and  paganism,  while  rejecting  other  words  as  too 
deeply  tainted.  We  are  thus  coming  to  see  the 
point  of  not  a  few  words  and  phrases  in  the  New 
Testament  writings  in  a  way  hitherto  impossible, 
owing  to  their  subtle  allusiveness  in  relation  to 
current  speech.1 

1  These  aspects  of  New  Testament  language  have  already  been 
worked  out  to  some  degree,  in  Germany  by  Deissmann,  in  his 
two  series  of  Bibehhulien  (being  translated  for  Messrs.  T.  &  T. 
Clark),  in  England  by  Professor  Eamsay,  particularly  in  papers 
in  the  Expository  Times,  Vol.  X.,  entitled  "The  Greek  of  the 
Early  Church  and  the  Pagan  ritual." 


xviii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Of  course  the  outward  uniformity  described 
masked  immense  latent  differences,  of  race,  ver- 
nacular language  and  thought,  sentiment  and 
usage,  affecting  every  department  of  life,  indi- 
vidual and  social.  These  local  diversities,  of 
which  (especially  in  the  sphere  of  religion)  Roman 
policy  was  markedly  tolerant,  have  themselves  a 
meaning  for  the  growth  of  local  Christian  types,  dis- 
tinguishable even  from  the  first.  But  they  were 
in  the  main  subordinate  to  a  certain  unity  of  habit 
and  thought  due  by  the  controlling  influence  of 
Roman  Law.  Thus  the  ultimate  thing  to  bear 
in  mind,  save  for  the  districts  under  subject 
native  princes,  is  the  Romanized  character  of  the 
civilized  and  semi-civilized  world  in  the  Apostolic 
Age.  If  we  would  find  a  real  parallel  to  the 
scale  on  which  this  was  realized,  we  must  come 
down  to  our  own  day  and  seek  it  in  the  uniform 
language  and  institutions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race. 

One  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of  the  all-pervasive 
influence  of  Grseco-Roman  culture  is  furnished  by  a 
fact  of  the  first  importance  for  the  fortunes  of  the 
Gospel  in  the  Empire,  the  liberalizing  of  the  Jew 
himself  when  detached  from  his  native  soil.  The 
Judaism  of  the  Dispersion  was  quite  distinct  in  tem- 
per and  outlook  from  Palestinian  orthodoxy.  It  was 
of  a  type  intermediate  between  Judaism  and  Hellen- 
ism, using  the  latter  term  to  express  the  sum  total  of 
ideas  and  sentiments  which  sprang  from  the  Greek 
spirit  and  its  history.  It  was  thus  the  bridge  by 
which  the  Gospel  passed  over  with  little  or  no  delay 


Introductory.  xix 


into  the  pagan  world,  just  because  this  had  already- 
ceased  in  its  better  representatives 1  to  be  pagan  at 
heart,  and  because  many  of  these  had  come  to  con- 
nect their  purer  theistic  ideas  with  Jewish  monothe- 
ism. Apart  from  this  the  history  of  the  Apostolic  Age 
must  have  been  far  other  than  it  was ;  and  the  Gen- 
tile mission  of  St.  Paul  in  particular  would  have  been 
a  much  smaller  thing,  if  indeed  it  could  have  obtained 
distinct  being  in  his  lifetime  at  all.  In  fact  we  may 
safely  assert  that,  if  the  Providential  ordering  of  the 
world  is  capable  in  any  case  of  becoming  the  subject 
of  historical  proof,  such  proof  is  to  be  found  here. 
Gentile  Christianity  turned  on  the  adjustment  of  two 
quite  independent  lines  of  preparation,  that  in  Judaea 
and   that  of  the  Empire,  converging  on  a  certain 

•The  various  types  of  religious  belief  embraced  within  the  am- 
ple and  elastic  limits  of  general  conformity  to  the  worship  recog- 
nized by  each  city-state,  cannot  here  be  described.  But  they  may 
be  hinted  in  some  pregnant  words  from  Prof.  Lewis  Campbell's 
Religion  in  Greek  Literature,  ch.  xvi.  Hellenic  culture  "  began  with 
ceremonialism,  and  rose  gradually  toward  a  pure  and  elevated 
morality.  The  idea  of  God  was  purged  [by  the  noblest  poets  and 
thinkers]  from  the  beggarly  elements  of  primitive  superstition 
and  the  accretions  of  fanciful  mythology,  until  the  most  sacred 
names  corresponded  to  the  highest  aspirations  of  the  noblest  men. 
But  as  the  race  declined,  or  became  contaminated  with  other  races, 
the  Greek  came  again  under  the  power  of  local  superstitions  which 
bad  never  lost  their  hold,  or  of  irrational  mysticisms  brought  in 
from  abroad  which  soothed  but  could  not  satisfy :  while,  in  compari- 
son with  these,  an  elaborately  reasoned  philosophy  exercised  only 
a  limited  power."  The  last  sentence  needs  supplementing.  Ee- 
ligious  mysticism  of  the  Pythagorean  type,  "with  its  vague  con- 
ceptions of  harmony  as  a  law  of  the  universe,  its  worship  of  order, 
its  spirituality  in  conceiving  the  Godhead,  its  asceticism  as  the 
highest  of  earthly  conditions,"  represented  a  real  awakening  of 
the  religious  spirit.  The  ideal  of  spiritual  intuition  won  by  moral 
purity,  was  a  great  advance  on  threadbare  Greek  rationalism. 


xx  The  Apostolic  Age. 

point  in  time.  And  it  involved  the  existence  at  that 
time  of  a  link  between  them  free  from  the  extreme  fea- 
tures of  each,  and  so  adapted  to  the  transmission  of 
the  best  life  of  the  one  (raised  to  a  new  and  higher 
power)  to  the  sounder  elements  in  the  other.  The 
"  predetermined  harmony  "  is  very  delicate.  Had 
there  been  no  negative  preparation  in  the  Gentile 
world,  no  sense  of  bankruptcy  as  regards  its  own 
traditional  ideals — religious,  philosophical,  and  polit- 
ical— side  by  side  with  the  positive  preparation  of 
higher  aspirations  after  a  purer  and  more  humane 
moral  ideal  and  a  religion  vitally  in  touch  with  such 
an  ideal,  the  Gospel  could  have  made  but  little  head- 
way. For  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Gospel 
came  as  from  below,  as  the  faith  of  a  sect  of  a  "  bar- 
barous," an  impracticable,  even  a  ridiculous  race.  It 
was  like  a  missionary  movement  from  Hinduism  to 
the  ruling  race  in  India  to-day.  Hence  the  feeling 
of  moral  failure  on  the  part  of  the  more  civilized, 
*.  e.,  Hellenized  and  Romanized,  Empire  was  an  indis- 
pensable factor  in  the  situation.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  instinct  for  a  universal  religion  answering  to  the 
universal  political  unity,  for  a  living  faith  in  one  Sov- 
ereign and  Fatherly  God,  to  put  a  deeper  meaning 
into  the  civic  brotherhood  of  which  Caesar  was  head, 
and  into  the  ethical  brotherhood  that  was  dawning 
on  many  besides  philosophers — this  too  operated 
in  favor  of  Christianity,  dimly  indeed  at  first,  but 
afterward  with  a  growing  consciousness.  And  in  the 
end  it  was  this,  probably,  that  in  the  main  decided 
Constantino  to  unite  the  fortunes  of  Empire  and 
Church :  for  by  his  time  it  was  plain  that  the  latter 


Introductory.  xxi 

had  no  serious  rival  as  the  higher  soul  of  unity  in 
the  body  politic. 

(b)     The  Jeivish  Diaspora. 

Centuries  earlier  this  grand  position  was  being 
coveted  with  much  zeal,  and  often  with  no  little  no- 
bility of  aim,  by  the  Jewish  Dispersion  for  Jehovah 
and  His  Holy  Law.     In  proportion  to  the  length  of 
their  residence  abroad,  and  to  the  degree  in  which  the 
better  side  of  Greek  thought  and  Roman  law  and 
order  confronted  them  locally,  Jews  settled  outside 
Palestine   came  to  think  very  differently  of  their 
44  Gentile  "  neighbors  than  was  possible  to  the  Pales- 
tinian Jew.      They  saw  the  higher  possibilities  in 
them  ;  nay,  they  were  forced  to  recognize  the  supe- 
riority of  Greek  philosophy  and  culture  to  the  rudi- 
ments of  such  things  existing  in  the  Holy  Land. 
Thus  they  began  to  respect  and  feel  a  fellow-feeling 
for   others   than  Jews ;   and  in  some  matters  they 
were  willing  to  learn.     Yet  their  deepest  feeling  was 
that  of  their  infinite  advantage  in  what  they  had  to 
give,  the  great  truths  of  revealed  religion.     And  in 
thinking  of  this  religion  they  came  to  lay  more  and 
more  stress  on  its  moral  side,  its  sublime  and  pure 
ethics  as  expounded  by  the  prophets  in  particular. 
These  prophets  had  not  only  taught  them  to  loathe 
as  "  idolatry "  all  sensuous   modes  of  representing 
and  worshipping  Deity,  but  had  also  made  them  aware 
of  their  responsibility  to  Jehovah  for  making  His 
name  honored  among  the  Gentiles  and  His  revealed 
will  a  light  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.     This  preoccu- 
pation  with   the   prophetic   and   non-ritual  side  of 


xxii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Judaism  was  the  more  natural  that  distance  from 
Jerusalem  made  the  whole  sacrificial  system  a  quite 
subordinate  thing  in  their  practice,  in  spite  of  rare 
visits  to  the  greater  Feasts.  Thus  experience  sifted 
for  them  the  sum  total  of  traditional  Judaism  ;  with 
the  result,  that  the  piety  of  the  Diaspora  became 
a  distinct  type  by  itself.  It  was  a  highly  spiritual 
monotheism,  with  a  sense  for  the  moral  side  of  religion 
enhanced  by  the  conspicuous  divorce  between  religion 
and  morality  characteristic  of  pagan  society,  but 
with  a  minimum  of  distinctive  religious  usages. 

Hence  when  the  more  zealous  souls  began  to  sup- 
plement personal  effort  by  literary  propaganda,  the 
religious  ideal  set  forth  was  much  akin  to  that  of  the 
"  wisdom  "  literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  book  of  JEcclesiasticus.  This  may  best 
be  seen  by  comparing  the  latter  Palestinian  work 
with  its  Hellenistic  and  propagandist  companion  in 
the  Apocrypha,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  We  cannot 
here  attempt  to  characterize  all  the  forms  of  literature 
of  which  the  Diaspora  availed  itself  for  the  persuasion 
and  conversion  of  its  neighbors.  They  were  put  into 
circulation  not  only  under  Jewish  names  of  repute, 
such  as  King  Solomon  the  Wise,  but  also  under  those 
of  ancient  pagan  sages,  such  as  Heraclitus,  the 
"  dark  "  philosopher,  and  the  oracular  Sibyl  of  wide- 
spread fame.  Naturally  the  usages  of  Judaism  most 
repugnant  to  Gentiles  were  here  omitted.  Such  a 
literature  had  doubtless  considerable  effect  on  pagan 
opinion,1  toward  removing  prejudice  against  the  Jew- 

1  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Virgil  had  read  the  Jewish  Sibyl- 
line oracles  in  some  form  and  attached  some  credence  to  their  gen- 


Introductory.  xxiii 


ish  faith  as  a  barbarous,  recent  affair :  otherwise  it 
would  not  have  been  so  largely  resorted  to  by  its 
zealous  authors.  The  same  may  perhaps  be  inferred 
from  the  systematic  criticism  to  which  the  Alexan- 
drine scholar,  Apion,  subjected  Judaism  in  a  work 
which  elicited  a  reply  from  Josephus. 

The  side,  however,  from  which  Judaism  was 
being  pressed  upon  general  acceptance  in  Alex- 
andrine circles,  was  in  the  main  the  more  strictly 
philosophic  one  connected  with  the  name  of  Philo, 
though  he  had  forerunners  whose  works  have  failed 
to  reach  us.  It  is  in  this  quarter'  that  the  com- 
promise between  Judaism  and  Hellenism  reached  its 
fullest  and  frankest  form,  the  spirit  and  ideal  remain- 
ing Jewish,  while  the  forms  and  technical  categories 
into  which  it  was  developed  were  borrowed  from 
Plato  and  the  Stoics.  The  national  element  was 
subordinated  to  the  human  and  universal,  while  the 
naive  religious  faith  of  the  Old  Testament  was 
forced  into  metaphysical  moulds  by  the  method  of 
allegoric  exegesis,  already  used  by  the  Stoics  with 
like  purpose  and  results  upon  the  revered  monuments 
of  early  Greek  thought,  the  Homeric  poems  and  the 
like.  This  Alexandrine  Judaism  was  of  enormous 
significance  for  the  future  of  Christianity.  For  not 
only  did  it  secure  in  the  Apostolic  Age  a  favorable 
hearing  for  the  Gospel  as  a  higher  form  of  the 
Mosaic  "philosophy"  taken  in  the  religious  and 
practical   sense   characteristic    of  the  age :    it   also 

eral  idea  of  a  golden  age  of  righteousness  and  peace  as  at  hand, 
an  idea  which  accorded  so  far  with  the  Stoic  idea  of  a  cycle  of  ages 
ever  coming  round  in  slow  and  solemn  succession. 


xxiv  The  Apostolic  Age. 

determined  the  speculative  setting  given  to  the  new- 
faith,  when  once  it  began  to  feel  the  need  of  such 
elaboration.  But,  though  the  more  liberal  Judaism 
of  the  Diaspora  had  some  footing  in  Palestine, 
even  in  Jerusalem,  through  the  return  of  colonial 
Jews,  the  Hellenists,  to  the  fatherland :  yet  in  its 
earlier  years  Christianity  was  chiefly  moulded  by  its 
reception  among  purely  Palestinian  Jews.  And  so  a 
truly  historical  understanding  of  the  Apostolic  Age 
depends,  to  begin  with,  on  a  due  realization  of 
native  Judaism  and  its  various  tendencies  at  the 
dawn  of  the  Christian  era. 

(c)     Palestinian  Judaism. 

The  post-exilic  Judeean  community,  as  it  came  to 
be  remoulded  by  the  efforts  of  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and 
certain  nameless  prophetic  coadjutors,  on  the  basis 
of  the  Law-book  brought  by  Ezra  from  the  land  of 
exile,  was  a  Church-nation.  As  compared  with  pre- 
exilic  Israel  it  was  a  close  community,  like  the 
upper  castes  in  Hinduism,  its  limits  fixed  no  longer 
by  a  mere  covenant  of  Jehovah  with  "  the  children  of 
Israel "  as  a  race,  but  by  observance  of  certain 
fundamental  usages  regulating  the  conduct  of  daily 
life,  social  and  personal,  in  sharp  distinction  from 
those  of  other  peoples  round  about.  The  poles 
about  which  this  life  revolved  were  the  Temple  in 
Zion  and  the  Law,  now  made  definite  by  its  dis- 
semination in  written  form  through  the  Synagogue. 
This  latter,  an  outcome  of  the  exigencies  of  exile 
life  far  from  Zion,  now  spread  over  the  whole  area 
of  renovated  Judaism. 


Introductory.  xxv 

All  along  the  national  history  the  collective  aspect 
of    the    Covenant   with    Jehovah    had    been    more 
prominent    than    the    individual.     Individuals   had 
relations  with  Jehovah  because  Jehovah  had  cove- 
nant relations  with  the  race  and  the  land :  so  much 
so,  that  outside  the  Holy  Land  the  relations  were 
felt   to   be    partly   inoperative.      But    now  the  ex- 
perience   of    the    exile    and  the  sense   of  previous 
apostasy   from    Jehovah,  conceived   as   due    to   too 
promiscuous    intercourse    with   other   peoples,   had 
brought  out  to  the  full  the  consciousness  of  separate- 
ness    or   holiness   to   Jehovah   and   from   all   other 
peoples  and  their  gods.     Along  with  this  the  notion 
of  a  sacred  or  "  clean  "  life,  lived  in  a  community 
kept  clean  from  contact  with  persons  or  things  pro- 
fane, by  national  ordinances  of  divine  origin  and 
sanction,  assumed  immense  prominence.     This  was 
not,  indeed,  felt  equally,  or  conceived  after  exactly 
the  same  manner  or  degree  by  all  Jews,  much  less 
carried    out   by   all   with   equal   consistency.     But 
there  was  always  a  party  of  the  stricter  obedience, 
which    under   varying    forms,    determined    by   the 
national  history  and  fortunes,  emphasized  the  ideal 
of  holiness  or  devotedness  to  Jehovah  and  of  sep- 
arateness  from  all  that  did  not  fall  within  the  terms 
of  His  Covenant.     With  the  era  of  temporary  na- 
tional deliverance  under  the  lead  of  the  Maccabees, 
which  coincides  with  a  great  outburst  of  patriotic 
religion  and  religious  patriotism  c.  165,  the  various 
tendencies  within  the  bosom  of  the  Church-nation 
emerge  into  something  like  clearness,  and  run  a  more 
or  less  continuous  course  down  to  the  Christian  era. 


xxvi  The  Apostolic  Age. 

But  before  tracing  the  later  religious  types  that 
coexisted  in  Judaism  when  Christianity  came  to 
birth,  we  must  notice  certain  great  beliefs  more  or 
less  entertained  by  the  Jews  at  large.  It  was 
natural,  that  after  a  long,  weary  period  of  national 
servitude,  the  acquired  bent  of  mind  among  the 
Jews  at  the  dawn  of  the  second  century  B.  C.  should 
be  one  of  eager  expectancy  toward  the  future.  As 
they  dwelt  on  their  past  glories,  the  glowing  prom- 
ises of  a  future  prosperity  yet  more  worthy  of 
Jehovah's  covenant  with  their  race — contrasting  so 
sadly  with  the  leaden  skies  of  their  present  national 
experiences — caused  them  to  project  their  thoughts 
constantly  into  the  future.  They  strove  to  catch  the 
first  gleams  of  that  Day  of  Jehovah,  the  great  inter- 
vention of  God  in  human  history  which  should  close 
the  "  latter  days  "  of  the  old  era  of  the  mixed  cup, 
and  usher  in  the  new  age  of  unmingled  blessing, 
righteousness,  and  world-wide  influence  for  the 
Chosen  People,  the  agent  of  Jehovah's  universal 
reign.  There  were,  to  the  pious  Jew,  immense 
arrears  of  anomaly  calling  for  Divine  rectification, 
both  by  way  of  retribution  on  the  evil  and  consolation 
of  the  righteous.  Providence  was  sadly  in  need  of  a 
supreme  vindication  in  Israel,  and  that  in  the  eyes 
of  all  peoples.  This  attitude  of  soul  may  be  called, 
in  respect  of  its  preoccupation  with  the  Last  Things 
of  Judgment  and  Reward,  Eschatological ;  in  respect 
of  the  characteristics  of  the  new  order  to  be  brought 
in,  or  of  the  prime  agent  sometimes  conceived  to  be 
necessary  to  its  introduction,  Messianic.  Under  the 
former    aspect,    the    specific    idea   involved    in    the 


Introductory.  xxvii 

ideally  holy  and  happy  state  of  the  Church-nation 
(which  was  the  end  of  ends  in  either  case)  was  that 
of  Resurrection ;  under  the  latter,  the  Messianic 
Kingdom  and  the  Messiah. 

The  Messianic  Hope  is  so  vast  a  theme  that  we 
can  but  allude  to  it.  But  it  is  needful  to  say  with 
all  the  emphasis  which  our  growing  knowledge  of 
the  later  Judaism  warrants,  that  it  was  by  no  means 
uniform  in  nature,  either  as  between  several  marked 
eras  (from  200  B.  C.  to  70  A.  D.),  or  as  between  vari- 
ous religious  circles  within  any  given  era ;  nor  did 
it  always  contemplate  a  personal  Messiah.  Primarily 
the  Messianic  "  Kingdom  "  had  come  to  mean  simply 
the  ideal  state  of  Israel  as  the  Chosen  People,  amid 
whom  Jehovah  should  be  manifestly  present  in  bless- 
ing. Immanuel,  "  God  with  us,"  was  its  key-note ; 
and  its  condition  was  perfect  fidelity  to  the  Cove- 
nant regulating  Jehovah's  relations  with  His  people. 
Hence  there  were  two  ways  of  looking  at  it,  accord- 
ing to  the  tendency  of  a  man's  piety.  If  one  looked 
at  the  Covenant  from  the  side  of  man's  obligation, 
then  the  day  of  perfect  obedience  seemed  but  a 
shadowy  and  ever  remote  possibility,  behind  which 
lay  concealed  the  full  favor  of  Jehovah,  His  manifest 
coming  to  His  Temple  and  Land.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  one  regarded  the  Covenant  through  the  bound- 
less and  unknown  possibilities  of  Jehovah's  loving 
kindness,  shown  on  many  an  occasion  of  human 
shortcoming — then,  ah!  then,  with  trembling  hope 
and  fear,  the  soul  might  expect  large  things  of  its 
God.  To  the  former  alternative  it  was  the  tendency 
of  legalist  and  pessimist  minds  to  lean,  and  to  have  no 


xxviii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

really  effective  Messianic  Hope.  To  the  latter  in- 
clined the  pions  souls  whose  breathings  reach  us  in 
many  a  psalm,  and  whose  spiritual  children  have  left 
some  record  of  their  trust,  now  vivid,  now  faint,  as 
it  animates  the  "  Psalms  of  Solomon "  (a  voice 
from  the  better  sort  of  Pharisees,  about  63-45  B.  C.) 
and  some  other  parts  of  the  Apocrypha,  but  especially 
the  Apocalyptic  literature  extending  over  the  whole 
period  B.  C.  200— A.  D.  70. 

Of  course  the  rule  assigned  to  a  personal  Messiah 
would  vary  greatly  as  one  held  to  the  one  or  the 
other  view.  On  the  former  theory  he  would  be  lit- 
tle more  than  the  figure-head  placed  upon  the  already 
"holy  "  nation,  and  his  rule  would  be  largely  formal, 
except  as  war-captain  in  Israel's  Great  Revenge  on 
her  ancient  and  present  heathen  foes.  On  the  latter, 
he  would  be  the  vice-gerent  in  human  form  of  Je- 
hovah in  His  character  as  Redeemer  of  Israel,  first 
from  her  sins  and  uncleanness,  and  only  afterward 
from  remaining  evils  of  an  earthly  nature.  The  one 
was  the  method  of  self-salvation,  aided  no  doubt  by 
the  "  merits  of  the  Fathers  " — a  salvation  which  still 
preserved  its  collective  character  by  the  notion  of  a 
great  common  store  of  righteousness  or  merit.  The 
other  was  the  method  of  pure  grace,  taking  effect  in 
a  Divine  interposition,  not  indeed  unconditioned  by 
a  certain  penitent  readiness  on  the  part  of  the  sounder 
heart  of  Israel,1  but  still  by  no  means  merited  on 
that  account.     Only  so  could  the  gulf  between  God's 

1  A  preparedness  in  which  a  Forerunner,  a  second  Elijah  the 
prophet,  was  sometimes  conceived  to  play  an  important  part, 
Malachi  iv.  4-6 :  so  John  the  Baptist's  ministry. 


Introductory .  xxix 


holiness  and  man's  poor  copy  thereof,  in  response 
to  the  command  "  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy,"  be 
bridged  over  and  a  true  "consolation  of  Israel" 
come  about.  It  is  true  that  "  the  primitive  confusion 
of  the  material  and  the  ethical "  senses  of  holiness 
was  not  yet  completely  overcome,  even  among  the 
more  spiritual  type  of  Jehovah's  devoted  ones. 
Nevertheless  much  had  been  done  to  cause  the 
stress  to  fall  more  and  more  decisively  on  the  eth- 
ical side  of  the  Law.  To  this  result  contributed  not 
only  prophets  and  psalmists,  but  also  "the  wise." 
Their  terse  sayings  stuck  in  the  memory  and  be- 
came household  words,  so  gradually  raising  the  level 
of  the  conscience.  This  moralizing  of  the  covenant 
Law  between  Jehovah  and  His  true  worshippers 
must  be  kept  full  in  view,  alongside  the  technical 
legalism  of  the  Pharisees,  if  one  is  to  understand  the 
early  Jewish  Christians,  and  particularly  such  a  writ- 
ing as  the  Epistle  of  James. 

Closely  related  to  this  ethical  development  was  the 
enhanced  sense  of,  and  even  craving  for,  a  day  of 
Divine  Assize,  when  all  wrong  both  to  Israel  and  in 
Israel  (to  the  truly  godly  sort)  should  be  redressed. 
But  even  slight  reflection  made  men  feel  that  this 
implied  some  kind  of  Resurrection,  that  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  might  do  right  by  his  subjects  of  all 
generations,  past  as  well  as  present.  This  had  not 
been  felt  so  long  as  the  earlier  view  of  the  intense 
solidarity  of  the  family,  tribe,  or  nation  had  blunted 
the  sense  of  individual  responsibility.  But  by  the 
second  century  B.  C.  the  individual  had  become  some- 
thing  like  a  moral  unit.     And  so  it  was  widely, 


xxx  The  Apostolic  Age. 

though   not  universally,  held  that  "many  of  them 
that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  (or  'a  land  of 
dust,'  i.  e.,  the  grave)  shall  awake,  some  to  everlast- 
ing life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  abhor- 
rence " ;  while  a  specially  glorious  lot  was  reserved 
for  "the  wise,"  the  teachers  of  righteousness.     But 
even  this  belief  in  a  great  resurrection  of  Israel,  to 
share  in  its  Messianic  state  as  a  "  Kingdom  of  the 
Saints  of  the  Most  High,"  was  by  no  means  steadily 
or  uniformly  believed  throughout  the  two  centuries 
prior  to  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.     The  general 
idea  varied  greatly  in  form  in  different  circles  of 
Judaism,  and  also  at  different  crises  in  the  national 
fortunes.     When  the  latter  were  darkest,  the  preoc- 
cupation with  the  future  Day  of  Jehovah  was  great- 
est and  most  impressively  supernatural  in  character, 
often  including  a  glorious  personal  Messiah.1     But 
these  very  fluctuations  prove  that,  though  the  moral 
necessity  of  some  Resurrection  or  Future  Life  (of 
long  or  even  unending  duration,  on  earth  or  in  the 
spirit  world — or  in  both)   was  growingly  felt  to  be 
essential  to  the  justification  of  Jehovah's  faithfulness 
to  His  Covenant,  in  the  face  of  the  "  frowning  Provi- 
dence "  that  so  often  mocked  the  pious  Jew,  there 
was  yet  no  definite  doctrine  on  the  subject.     On  the 
contrary,  while  the  Sadducees  refused  to  admit  the 
idea  at  all  as  a  part  of  authentic  Mosaism,  the  more 
earnest  and  progressive  groups — Pharisees,  Essenes, 
the  dutiful  righteous  among  the  Little  and  Poor  peo- 

1  For  details,  reference  may  be  made  to  Rev.  R.  H.  Charles'  ex- 
haustive article,  Eschatology  of  the  Apocryphal  Literature,  in  Dr. 
Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 


Introductory.  xxxi 


pie,  as  well  as  the  pious  Jews  of  the  Dispersion — 
cherished  it,  each  in  a  form  of  their  own,  and  even 
with  local  variations.  When  we  bear  these  things 
in  mind,  we  see  new  force  in  the  apostle's  words 
as  he  boasts  that  Christ  Jesus  had  "  annulled 
Death  and  illumined  Life  and  Incorruption  through 
the  Gospel."  On  the  other  hand,  we  shall  cease  to 
wonder  at  the  diversity  in  unity  with  which  the 
several  New  Testament  writers  set  forth  their  now 
sure  and  certain  hope  of  Eternal  Life. 

So  far  we  have  dealt  with  certain  great  streams  of 
thought  in  later  Judaism.  We  have  yet  to  consider 
the  various  religious  types  coexisting  in  the  unity 
of  the  sacred  "  Commonwealth  of  Israel  "  when  the 
Forerunner  began  that  sifting  of  Israel  which  the 
Greater  One  was  to  carry  to  the  decisive  issue.  The 
essentials  of  Judaism  at  that  time  are  well  summed 
up  in  the  saying  of  Simeon  the  Righteous,  uttered 
two  centuries  before,  and  preserved  among  the 
"  Sayings  of  the  Fathers  "  (Pirqe  AbotJi)  committed 
to  writing  about  as  long  after  the  Christian  era. 
"  On  three  things  the  world  is  stayed :  on  the  Thorah 
(Law),  on  the  Worship,  and  on  the  bestowal  of 
Kindnesses."  According  as  the  accent  falls  on  each 
of  these  in  succession,  we  have  the  Pharisee,  the 
Sadducee,  and  the  popular  Saint — using  this  phrase 
for  want  of  a  better,  to  express  the  genuine  successor 
of  the  pious  or  "  meek  "  ones  of  the  Psalter. 

The  thoroughgoing  Pharisees  relied  on  the 
Thorah  as  developed  and  codified  by  the  dicta  of  a 
series  of  great  Scribes  and  Doctors  into  "  the  tradi- 


xxxii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

tion  of  the  Elders."  This  divine  code  covered  the 
whole  area  of  daily  life,  fixing,  often  by  most  painful 
casuistry,  what  was  allowable  and  unallowable 
(things  "  loosed  "  and  "  bound  "),  and  what  clean 
and  unclean.  The  great  evil  of  the  system  lay  in  its 
subordination  of  moral  to  ceremonial  considerations, 
where  these  came  into  competition.  It  was  this  that 
most  roused  Christ's  righteous  indignation :  for  it 
lay  at  the  root  of  their  self-complacent  "  hypocrisy." 
Moral  goodness  as  such  did  not  concern  them  as  a 
class :  if  "  mercy  and  truth  "  were  praiseworthy,  it 
was  as  part  of  the  sacred  national  code.  We  speak 
now  of  the  extremists  of  this  school,  who  perhaps 
amounted  to  only  some  6,000  in  all  Palestine  (mainly 
Judeea).  But  the  baneful  influence  of  a  compact  and 
zealous  brotherhood  such  as  they  formed,  upon  the 
religious  ideals  of  the  nation  was  very  far-reaching. 
For  they  had  the  prestige  of  learning,  as  well  as  of 
rigorous  scrupulosity  in  pursuance  of  the  national 
ideals  of  Righteousness  and  Purity — a  term  whose 
ambiguity  masked  the  deep  differences  latent  in  cur- 
rent Judaism.  Besides  emptying  these  great  words 
of  most  of  their  moral  contents,  Pharisaic  piety  de- 
based the  motives  of  the  godly  life  by  language  that 
narrowed  down  Jehovah's  Covenant  relation  to  the 
terms  of  a  legal  contract,  into  which  both  the  better 
and  worse  kind  counted  upon  an  unknown  quantity 
entering  at  last,  "  the  merits  of  the  Fathers."  This 
was  the  one  form  in  which  the  typical  Pharisee 
knew  anything  of  humility.  When  all  else  failed, 
he  counted  on  pleading,  "But  I  have  Abraham  as 
my    father.      Can    a    circumcised    Jew    really    be 


Introductory.  xxxiii 


damned  like  a  Gentile  dog?  Where,  then,  is  the 
advantage  of  being  a  Jew  ?  "  On  other  occasions, 
indeed,  when  it  was  the  time  to  "  despise  others," 
the  profane  vulgar  who  cared  not  for  the  traditions  of 
the  elders,  "the  publicans  and  sinners,"  the  out- 
casted,  as  it  were,  in  Israel — then,  it  was  all  too  easy 
to  ignore  the  value  of  Abrahamic  origin  and  let 
brethren  go  to  join  the  other  "  dogs."  Obviously, 
there  were  deep  cleavages  in  Judaism,  and  we  must 
be  careful  not  to  think  loosely  about  "  the  Jews,"  as 
if  they  were  homogeneous,  when  we  come  to  con- 
sider the  early  Jewish  Christians. 

The  Sadducees  call  for  less  notice  since  there  is 
little  room  for  doubt  as  to  their  attitude  to  all 
Christians.  It  was  one  of  severe  aloofness.  In 
Christ's  day  at  least  the  Sadducees  were  mainly 
identified  with  the  high -priestly  aristocracy  that 
controlled  the  Temple-worship,  and  in  the  absence 
of  any  native  prince  (*.  <?.,  the  various  semi-Jewish 
Herods)  were  also  the  leaders  in  the  State,  the  dom- 
inant party  in  the  Sanhedrin,  the  supreme  native 
court  under  the  Roman  governor  {procurator).  In 
religion,  like  most  aristocracies  they  were  both 
"  moderates "  and  conservatives.  They  refused, 
that  is,  to  accept  the  advance  on  the  Pentateuch 
represented  not  only  by  the  Prophets  and  Psalms, 
but  also  by  "  the  tradition  of  the  Elders,"  on  the 
one  hand,  and  by  the  Messianic  and  Apocalyptic  be- 
liefs of  popular  religion,  on  the  other.  The  former 
threatened  their  own  privileged  position  as  super- 
intendents of  the  national  worship  centring  in  the 
Temple  and  the  sacrificial  system,  by  the  encroach- 


xxxiv  The  Apostolic  Age. 


ments  of  sacred  jurists,  the  recognized  custodians  of 
a  written  body  of  revealed  Law  which  they  could 
make  speak  as  they  willed.  The  latter  they  de- 
spised as  superstitious,  and  feared  as  a  constant 
source  of  fanatical  attempts  to  innovate  on  the  hu- 
miliating political  situation,  which  for  many  reasons 
it  was  their  own  policy  to  maintain  for  the  present 
at  least.  Hence  it  is  they  who  take  the  lead  in  the 
early  attempts  to  reduce  the  Apostles  to  silence,  lest 
public  order  be  upset,  possibly  to  the  extent  of 
bringing  the  Romans  on  the  scene.  Probably  the 
nearest  approximation  to  their  religious  attitude 
known  to  us,  is  to  be  found  in  the  sceptical 
"  Preacher  "  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes. 

Very  different  was  the  spirit  of  the  third  of  the 
sects  which  Josephus  recognizes  as  existing  within 
Palestinian  Judaism.  The  Essenes,  whatever  their 
origin  and  whatever  the  exact  meaning  of  their 
name,  were  far  closer  to  the  Pharisees  than  to  the 
Sadducees,  both  in  their  passion  for  "  purity  "  after 
the  standards  of  the  Mosaic  Law  and  in  the  subordi- 
nate place  which  they  assigned  to  the  Temple  and 
its  cultus.  Indeed  in  this  latter  respect  they  far 
outdid  all  other  Jews,  since,  in  some  way  not  per- 
fectly clear  to  us,  they  regarded  the  bloody  sacrifices 
even  of  the  Temple  as  defiling,  and  were  content  to 
rely  solely  upon  other  kinds  of  sacrifice,  such  as 
their  common  meals— which  were  partaken  of  with 
great  solemnity  and  regard  to  ritual  purity.  To 
these  they  added  those  once  secondary  "  sacrifices " 
which  had  through  the  language  of  prophets  and 
psalmists,  echoed  also  by  the  "  Wisdom  "  literature, 


Introductory.  xxxv 


advanced  in  many  devout  Jewish  minds  into  the 
primary  place,  as  the  most  congenial  forms  of  hom- 
age to  a  God  such  as  they  conceived  the  High  and 
Holy  One  of  Israel  to  be.  These  were  the  sacrifices 
of  praise,  of  prayer,  of  fasting — the  sacrifice  of  the 
"  broken  and  contrite  heart " — of  active  charity  and 
alms-giving.  The  peculiar  communistic  life,  indeed, 
of  the  stricter  type  of  Essenes  (who  were  also  cele- 
bates),  living  near  the  Dead  Sea,  gave  such  sacrifices 
special  forms.  They  regarded  their  refectory  as 
their  temple,  the  senior  brethren  as  priests,  from 
whom  also  they  learned  certain  esoteric  doctrines 
extracted  from  the  generally  received  Jewish  Scrip- 
tures and  from  their  own  special  sacred  writings,  both 
mystical  and  apocalyptic  in  character.  Specimens 
of  some  of  their  teaching  probably  survive  in  sec- 
tions of  the  Book  of  Enoch,  dating  from  the  second 
and  first  centuries  B.  C.  Other  aspects  of  it  were 
probably  never  committed  to  writing,  being  handed 
down  only  orally  under  most  awful  vows  of  secrecy.1 
We  know,  however,  from  Josephus,  who  lived  several 
years  among  them  as  one  of  those  only  on  probation, 
that  they  had  a  very  definite  doctrine  of  the  Future 
Life,  combining  apparently  the  doctrines  of  a  Resur- 
rection and  of  the  Immortality  of  the  Soul,  usually 
rivals  rather  than  allies  in  contemporary  Judaism. 
But  while  they  were  in  some  sense  eclectic  in  their 
ideals,  we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  sources  whence 
they  derived  or  of  the  principles  by  which  they 
harmonized   their  views.     In   any   case    they  were 

1  This  is  the  more  striking  that  the  Essenes  denounced  oaths  in 
all  other  cases  as  tending  to  undermine  perfect  sincerity. 


xxxvi  The  Apostolic  Age. 


fundamentally  Jewish  in  their  religious  spirit  and  in 
many  of  its  manifestations,  though  their  asceticism 
goes  beyond  anything  warranted  by  the  Jewish  no- 
tion of  "  purity,"  and  points  to  an  alien  dualistic 
view  of  matter  and  spirit.1 

Akin  to  the  Essenes,  at  least  as  regards  their  con- 
ception of  brotherly  kindness  as  the  ritual  of  the  re- 
ligion of  a  pure  heart,  was  a  fourth  group  which 
Josephus  omits  to  mention:  for  in  truth  it  was  not  a 
sect  at  all.  It  has  for  us  the  greatest  interest  of  all, 
since  from  it  came  the  bulk  of  the  first  Christians, 
those  whose  type  of  piety  must  have  determined 
the  Jewish  Christianity  of  the  earlier  chapters  of 
Acts.  Though  perhaps  the  most  numerous  of  the 
four  types  we  have  mentioned,  it  is  most  apt  to  es- 
cape notice  because  it  does  not  appear  explicitly  in 
literature.  It  was  not,  indeed,  a  literary  class ;  its 
members  are  known,  in  so  far  as  they  are  known  at 
all,  as  "the  quiet  in  the  land."  But  they  have  in 
fact  their  literary  embodiment.  It  is  the  spirit  of 
their  piety  that  breathes  through  the  gracious  narra- 
tives of  Luke  i.  ii.  Zacharias,  Elizabeth,  Mary, 
Joseph,  Simeon  and  Anna,  are  all,  with  minor  differ- 
ences, examples  of  this  type  of  piety,  the  genuine 
outcome  of  Old  Testament  religion,  i.  <?.,  of  the  Law 
read  through  the  prophets  and  modified  and  ex- 
panded in  its  ethics  by  Psalmists  and  the  best  of  the 
"  Wisdom  "  writers.  Its  religious  ideal  was  that  of 
Micah  (vi.  8),  when  he  cried,  "  What  doth  Jehovah 

1  There  was  however  a  less  strict  type  of  Essenes,  who  allowed 
marriage  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  race,  and  who  probably  lived 
under  more  ordinary  social  conditions  on  the  outskirts  of  cities. 


Introductory.  xxxvii 


require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  "  In  its  more 
outward  aspect  it  finds  yet  fuller  expression  in 
words  of  Zechariah  (vii.  9,  10) :  "  Execute  true  judg- 
ment, and  show  mercy  and  compassion  every  man  to 
his  brother;  and  oppress  not  the  widow,  nor  the 
fatherless,  the  stranger,  nor  the  poor ;  and  let  none 
of  you  imagine  evil  against  his  brother  in  your 
heart."  What  this  means  may  be  seen  in  greater 
detail  in  Job,  chap.  xxxi.  It  is  the  Law  as  the  Wise 
set  it  before  their  scholars  in  Proverbs  and  in  kin- 
dred books  of  instruction.  And  finally,  and  most 
significantly,  it  coincides  with  the  preaching  of  the 
last  of  the  prophets,  John  the  Baptist,  the  son  of 
Zacharias  and  Elizabeth,  who  was  all  but  within  the 
Kingdom  which  he  announced. 

3.      THE  NEW  GEEM. 

According  to  the  view  set  forth  in  the  last  para- 
graph, he  who  has  divined  the  piety  of  the  Jews 
who  surrounded  the  infant  John  and  the  infant 
Jesus  must  understand  more  of  the  first  Christians 
than  the  man  whose  mind  is  preoccupied  with  Rab- 
binic lore.  For  Rabbinic  is,  broadly  speaking,  the 
product  of  the  Lawyers,  the  allies  of  the  Pharisees 
whose  sure  instinct  marked  Jesus  out  as  the  deadly 
foe  of  their  religious  type.  The  pious  souls  of  Luke 
i.,  ii.,  were  his  natural  friends,  those  whose  hearts 
leaped  with  loyalty  to  Him  as  the  incarnation  of 
their  ideal  of  personal  religion. 

If  certain  Pharisees  ultimately  entered  Christ's 
Society  in  the  aftertime,  it  was  quite  late  in  the  day. 


xxxviii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

During  His  earthly  career  it  was  ever  on  the  others 
that  His  eye  rested  with  hope,  the  "  little  ones,"  the 
petite  bourgeoisie l  of  Palestine ;  from  these  came 
most  of  His  followers.  Culture,  as  then  under- 
stood, was  a  hindrance  to  receptivity,  not  a  help  ; 
because  it  made  its  possessors  artificial  and  self-satis- 
fied, too  superior  persons  to  have  their  notions  of 
religion  revolutionized  by  a  Galilean  peasant.  It 
was  the  unsophisticated  heart  of  humanity,  schooled 
by  a  life  not  too  far  from  the  soil  and  from  honest 
hard  work,  and  not  the  intellect  of  Palestine,  that 
saw  the  heavenly  vision  in  the  Prophet  of  Nazareth. 
Jesus  himself  recognized  this  as  a  law  of  the 
Father's  Kingdom,  in  words  familiar  to  all.  The 
"  wise  and  understanding "  saw  no  glory  in  this 
Christ,  that  they  should  desire  Him  ;  whereas  the 
humbler  folk,  mere  "  babes  "  in  religious  knowledge 
and  culture,  had  their  hearts  strangely  drawn  out  to 
Him  in  silent  trust,  notwithstanding  the  puzzlement 
of  mind  caused  by  the  absence  of  some  of  their 
cherished  Messianic  tokens.  Such  doubts  were 
swallowed  up  by  the  Divine  witness  of  the  Resur- 
rection :  and  thereupon  a  steady  stream  of  the 
humbler  "little  folk"  flowed  towards  the  Messianic 
Community,  marked  off  as  an  Israel  within  Israel  by 

1  Compare  the  division  of  the  population  of  mediaeval  Italy  into 
"lesser"  (minores)  and  "greater"  (majores);  whence  the  Franciscan 
"Friars  Minor."  Analogies  occur  in  most  peoples  at  some  stage 
of  their  history.  That  this  is  the  sense  of  "  the  little  folk,"  or 
"these  (my)  little  ones,"  phrases  in  which  Christ  describes  His 
disciples  among  the  simple  sort,  seems  clear  from  the  context 
(Matt.  x.  42,  cf.  xviii.  10,  14;  Mark.  ix.  42;  Luke  xvii.  2),  as 
also  from  the  antithesis  "little  and  great"  in  Rev.  xi.  18,  xiii. 
16,  xix.  5  (Ps.  cxv.  13)  18.  xx.  12,  cf.;  Heb.  viii.  11. 


Introductory.  xxxix 

the  consecrating  rite  of  baptism.  Such  believers  had 
been  fed  mainly  on  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
themselves,  interpreted  by  the  current  popular 
rendering  (Targum)  recited  by  the  Reader  (Methur- 
geman)  in  the  Synagogal  worship,  and  by  preaching 
based  thereon.  On  them  the  set  dogmas  and  painful 
rules  of  the  School  had  but  little  hold.  They 
were  benighted  lay-folk  (J8ta>raC)  and  unlettered, 
even  their  leaders,  a  Peter  and  a  John,  as  regards 
technical  knowledge  of  the  Law ;  and  so  were  dis- 
qualified for  the  good  life  in  the  eyes  of  the  Phari- 
sees, a  mere  rabble  little  short  of  accursed  in  God's 
sight.  The  very  notion  of  a  prophet  of  Galilean 
origin  and  a  Nazarene,  was  in  itself  absurd  (John  vii. 
49,  52). 

Of  course  such  simple  folk  had  their  own  limi- 
tations. Even  more  than  their  religious  leaders  and 
shepherds,  these  poor  bewildered  sheep  were  apt  to 
follow  the  vagaries  of  an  undisciplined  imagination, 
stirred  by  the  patriotic  and  scenic  side  of  the 
Messianic  Hope.  Few  in  Palestine  in  those  days 
could  consciously  distinguish  poetic  imagery  in  the 
ancient  prophets,  imagery  largely  borrowed  from 
conditions  no  longer  on  the  national  horizon,  from 
the  abiding  principles  of  their  message.  And  so  a 
weird  amalgam  of  half-understood  images,  drawn 
from  the  variegated  and  piecemeal  utterances  of 
prophecy  had  formed  itself  in  most  minds.  It  was 
indeed  kaleidoscopic  in  character.  But  it  focused 
itself  in  some  shape  around  the  notion  of  a  great  na- 
tional Deliverance,  cancelling  the  impotence  of  the 
Jewish  people,  in  face  of  the  oppressive  Gentile,  by 


xl  The  Apostolic  Age. 

an  exhibition  of  power  worthy  the  Mighty  One  of 
Israel.  This  Apocalyptic  mode  of  thought,  which 
was  embodied  in  an  influential  literature  gradually 
coming  within  our  knowledge,  had  naturally  its 
greatest  influence  in  the  naive,  untutored  minds  of 
the  simpler  sort.  And  the  historian  has  to  reckon 
very  seriously  with  this  fact,  not  only  as  a  hindrance 
to  prompt  discipleship  to  Jesus  in  the  days  of  His 
flesh,  but  also  as  coloring  men's  notions  of  the 
Messianic  Kingdom  and  its  future  long  after  they 
were  persuaded  that  Jesus  was  really  the  Messiah. 
One  way  of  getting  over  the  offence  of  the  Cross 
was  by  a  mere  postponing  of  all  they  had  hoped  for 
in  Him  at  His  first  coming,  to  His  constantly  ex- 
pected second  Advent.  But  this  meant  also  a  post- 
ponement of  the  day  of  real  transformation  in  their 
thoughts  about  the  nature  of  the  Kingdom  and  about 
God's  way  of  making  it  come  on  earth.  Nor  must 
we  be  surprised  if  we  find  the  mind  of  Christ  often 
veiled  by  the  forms  in  which  His  followers  were  able 
to  apprehend  His  Gospel. 

Yet  after  all,  there  was  in  their  minds  no  inner 
principle  of  antagonism  to  Jesus'  teaching  touching 
the  essence  of  religion  here  and  now,  as  there  was 
among  the  "great"  and  "wise"  with  their  pride  of 
position  and  learned  prejudices.  This  teaching  was 
the  verbal  transcript  of  His  own  filial  piety,  as  living 
face  to  face  with  the  Father,  that  "  Holy  Father  "  in 
whom  blended  in  perfect  accord  the  Justice  and 
Love  that  men  found  so  hard  to  reconcile  in  their 
thought  of  God.  But  Jesus  did  not  promulgate  his 
Gospel  of  divine  Fatherhood  and  human  Sonship  as 


Introductory.  xli 


a  dogma,  in  formal  and  therefore  abstract  fashion. 
He  used  popular  speech,  the  language  of  homely  but 
vivid  imagery,  often  bound  up  with  traditional 
associations,  and  most  unfit  for  the  literal  and 
prosaic  expression  of  any  sort  of  "  orthodoxy."  But 
on  the  other  hand  it  was  the  most  stimulating  and 
vital  medium  for  the  spirit  that  it  was  His  supreme 
care  to  stir  into  life.  Its  poetry  and  even  paradox 
were  above  all  things  suggestive,  and  opened  springs 
of  fresh  thought  and  feeling  long  sealed  by  con- 
ventional correctness  and  torpor.  Men  had  to 
interpret  His  sayings  to  themselves,  if  they  were  to 
get  any  good  from  them.  And  this  made  appeal  to 
the  best  and  deepest  that  lay  latent  in  them.  Men 
had  to  seek,  before  they  could  even  fancy  that  they 
had  found:  they  had  to  cooperate  with  the  Teacher 
by  the  travail  of  their  souls.  Only  to  him  who 
"  had,"  who  used  all  that  was  in  him,  was  anything 
"given"  by  such  a  Gospel.  On  the  other  hand  no 
special  culture  was  needed,  only  a  "pure"  or 
sincere  heart.  And  then  the  word  came  into  the 
simplest  mind  with  a  strangely  moving,  humbling, 
liberating  power.  Through  the  straits  of  contrition 
and  self-abandonment  the  soul  came  forth  "  into  a 
large  place" — far  larger  than  it  could  perceive  for 
many  a  long  day. 

Herein  lay  another  peculiarity  of  Christ's  message. 
It  was  so  purely  affirmative  of  a  few  elemental  reli- 
gious truths,  radiating  from  the  relation  of  Father 
to  son,  of  son  to  Father,  that  while  He  was  in  fact 
making  old  things  new  and  effecting  the  most  rad- 
ical of  spiritual  revolutions,  the  fact  was  least  sus- 


xlii  The  Apostolic  Age. 

pected  by  those  who  most  felt  its  power.  Its 
enemies  saw  its  logical  bearings  far  more  clearly 
than  its  friends.  Quite  early  the  former  saw  that 
the  regal  liberty  with  which  Jesus  "  fulfilled " 
the  Mosaic  Law  in  his  own  way,  made  him  not  the 
slave  but  the  Lord  of  the  Law  in  whole  as  in  part : 
and  they  judged  Him  accordingly.  The  latter  were 
at  first  conscious  only  of  a  new  pulse  of  life,  a  reli- 
gious exhilaration,  a  sense  of  moral  individuality  in 
relation  to  the  fulfilment  of  God's  Law,  as  some- 
thing of  which  they  now  saw  the  aim  and  spirit.  It 
was  but  dimly  that  any  of  them  felt  the  novelty  of 
the  sense  in  which  Jesus  "fulfilled  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets."  It  was  but  slowly  that  they  came  to  re- 
alize, through  the  logic  of  facts  and  the  march  of 
events,  how  decisively  they  had  already  broken  with 
Jewish  national  Legalism  in  following  His  lead  with 
childlike  confidence.  For  Jesus  had  not  criticised 
in  a  formal  or  abstract  way  either  the  Jewish  Law, 
as  distinct  from  perversions  or  evasions  of  its  spirit, 
or  the  popular  apocalyptic  forms  in  which  the  Mes- 
sianic hope  was  cherished.  He  used  the  current 
conceptions  of  each  with  a  sovereign  freedom,  at 
once  conscious  of  their  inadequacy  to  the  divine  re- 
lations mirrored  immediately  in  the  pure  depths  of 
His  own  soul,  and  at  the  same  time  content  to  use 
them  as  the  only  forms  of  human  thought  then 
available,  the  outcomes  of  the  Father's  providential 
education  of  the  Chosen  People.  It  was  His  to 
place  in  the  mass  He  found  to  hand  the  leaven  able 
to  leaven  its  very  elements,  the  seed  which  had  in 
itself  a  life  of  unsuspected  potency.     The  rest  was 


Introductory.  xliii 


the  Father's  care,  as  was  also  the  path  Himself  was 
called  to  tread  as  Son  and  therefore  Messiah  in 
God's  own  deep  sense. 

But  as  for  His  simple  followers,  they  could  not 
view  things  from  the  inside  outwards,  as  did  their 
Master ;  as  touching  principles,  they  were  only  feel- 
ing their  way  inwards  from  the  outside.  The  dangers 
of  this  transition  period,  dangers  latent  in  the  un- 
conscious conservatism  of  the  common  people,  were 
neither  slight  nor  few.1  This  Jesus  Himself  recog- 
nized, in  speaking  of  the  patching  an  old  garment 
with  a  piece  of  fresh  cloth,  and  of  trying  to  preserve 
new  wine  in  old  wine-skins.  Certain  forms  of 
thought  and  usage  had  grown  with  the  growth  of 
the  old  religion :  and  the  new  spirit  could  not  be  con- 
fined by  them  without  tension  and  loss.  The  par- 
able had  both  a  present  and  a  future  application. 
The  Apostolic  Age  is  one  long  exemplification  of  its 
truth :  nor  was  its  significance  even  then  exhausted. 
To  the  Spirit,  however,  whose  living  energy  was  to 
rule  and  guide  the  Christian  Society,  its  Founder 
confidently  pointed,  as  the  guarantee  of  a  due  bal- 
ance between  inward  life  and  outer  forms  of  self-ex- 
pression according  to  changing  conditions  and  ne- 

1  It  was  only  through  the  Temptation  that  Jesus  passed,  in  the 
first  hours  of  His  Messianic  Vocation,  into  the  serenity  of  con- 
scious acceptance  of  the  Father's  purely  spiritual  path  for  Mes- 
siah, His  Son.  And  the  difference  between  the  alternative  ideals 
of  Messiahship  is  revealed  by  His  joy  in  welcoming  Peter's 
perception  of  the  true  type  in  a  supreme  moment  at  Csesarea 
Philippi,  and  by  the  sharpness  of  the  rebuke  that  met  the  tempter's 
voice  which  spoke  in  Peter's  next  words.  Through  like  trials 
had  the  Christian  Church  to  pass,  in  entering  upon  its  true  herit- 
age in  the  Gospel. 


xliv  The  Apostolic  Age. 

cessities.  Peter's  early  speeches,  and  Stephen's 
Apology ;  the  Epistles  to  the  Galatians,  the  Ro- 
mans, the  Hebrews ;  the  Jobannine  Epistles  and 
Gospel — what  are  these  but  fingerposts  in  the  pil- 
grimage by  which  the  Apostolic  Age  entered  more 
fully  into  the  Gospel  of  Christ  ? 


CHRONOLOGY. 


The  Crucifixion  .... 

Paul's  Conversion        .... 
Paul's  first  visit  to  Jerusalem 
Caius  (Caligula),  emperor 
Claudius,  emperor       .... 
Herod  Agrippa  I.,  king  of  Palestine  . 
Palestine  under  Roman  Procurators  . 
Paul's  visit  to  Jerusalem  with  Famine  Fund 
Paul's  First  Missionary  Journey- 
Jerusalem  Conference  :  Second  Missionary  Journey, 
Corinth  reached,  late  in 

Paul  visits  Jerusalem  :  Third  Missionary  Journey, 
Nero,  emperor  ..... 
Paul  leaves  Ephesus  for  Greece,  spring, 
Paul  visits  Jerusalem,  and  is  arrested,  spring 
Paul  confined  at  Csesarea,  autumn, 
Paul  reaches  Eome,  early  in   . 
Nero's  rule  begins  to  degenerate 
Acts  ends :  Paul's  martyrdom,  also  James'    . 
Peter  reaches  Eome    .... 
Fire  of  Rome,  summer :   death  of  Peter  and  many 

Christians 
Outbreak  of  Jewish  "War 
Death  of  Nero,  June  9  :  Galba  succeeds 
Vespasian  in  Judssa  declared  emperor 
Jerusalem  taken,  the  Temple  burned 
Vespasian  and  his  two  sons  in  power 
John  and  other  apostles  in  "Asia" 
Titus,  emperor 
Domitian,  emperor 
Roman  letter  to  Corinth  (1  Clement) 
Nerva,  emperor 
Trajan,  emperor 


A.  D. 
March,  29  (30) 
30-33 


Oct, 


34-35 
37-41 
41-54 
41-44 
44-66 

46 

47 
49  (50)1 

50 

52 

54 

55 

56 
56-58 

59 

59 
61-62 
62-63 


64 

66 

68 

July,  69 

Aug.  70 

71-79 
c.  70-95 
79-81 
81-96 
95-96 
96-98 
Jan.  98-117 


'Henceforward  Turner  and  Ramsay  differ  by  a  year,  see  p.  xiii. 


This  map  is  reproduced  from  Fisher's  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church."    The  author  of  "  T. 


from  Greenwich 


ostolic  Age,"  however,  places  8.  Paul's  Galatian  churches  in  South,  not  in  North  Galatia. 


BOOK  I. 
The  First  Generation :  A.  D.  29-62. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY   PALESTINIAN   DAYS. 

The  Peaceful  Beginnings  (Acts  i.  ii.). 

HE  curtain  lifts  in  Acts  upon  the  clays 
that  followed  the  Passion,  during  which 
the  personal  disciples  of  Jesus  were 
quickened,  by  experience  of  their  Mas- 
ter's presence,  out  of  despair  into  a  re- 
novated faith.  For  had  He  not  vanquished  death, 
and  so  given  final  proof  of  His  Messiahship,  notwith- 
standing all  the  paradoxes  of  His  earthly  career? 
But  of  these  wondrous  days,  a  very  life  from  the 
dead  for  the  disciples  and  creative  of  the  Church 
that  was  to  be,  no  one  complete  and  connected  ac- 
count seems  to  have  gone  forth  and  become  the  com- 
mon property  of  all  Christians.  Indeed  Luke l  him- 
self reflects  in  his  two  works,  the  Gospel  and  Acts, 
different  degrees  of  information  touching  the  appear- 
ances of  the  risen  Christ.  The  way  in  which  he  re- 
sumes the  topic  with  which  his  Gospel  had  closed 
shows  that  he  was  desirous  of  supplementing  what 
he  had  there  stated,  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge, 2 

>  So  we  style  the  author  of  Acts  throughout,  without  foreclosing 
the  question  of  authorship,  discussed  in  the  Literary  Appendix. 

2  In  the  last  paragraphs  of  ch.  xxiv.  there  are  one  or  two  points 
(e.  g.,  vv.  44,  50,  with  Dr.  Plummer's  notes),  at  which  interviews 
which  were  really  separated  in  time  are  simply  strung  together 
by  a  loose  connecting  particle  like  our  "and"  (Se):  and  at  the 
date  of  writing  them  Luke  had  no  definite  idea  as  to  the  time 
that  elapsed  between  resurrection  and  ascension. 
A  1 


The  Apostolic  Age. 


by  fresh  detail  that  had  since  rewarded  the  unwearied 
research  to  which  he  alludes  in  the  preface  to  that 
Gospel.  He  may  formerly  have  thought,  like  the 
writer  of  the  so-called  Epistle  of  Barnabas  (<?.  70-75;,1 
that  the  ascension  followed  hard  upon  the  resurrec- 
tion and  manifestation  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
Now,  however,  he  is  able  to  fill  out  the  picture 
somewhat,  while  careful  to  connect  it  with  his 
earlier  account  by  a  brief  retrospect,  before  nam- 
ing forty  days  as  the  period  covered  by  the  appear- 
ance of  Christ. 

Next,  he  reiterates  a  point  alluded  to  in  his  gospel 
and  by  which  he  clearly  set  great  store,  namely  the 
promise  of  an  "  enduement  with  power  from  on 
high,"  to  qualify  disciples  for  effectual  witness  to 
Jesus  as  the  Christ.  It  is  here  described,  in  studied 
contrast  to  John's  water  baptism,  as  a  Holy  Spirit 
baptism,  after  the  order  of  the  baptism  with  which 
Jesus  Himself  had  entered  upon  His  Messianic  Voca- 
tion (i.  5,  cf.  Luke  hi.  22,  iv.  1,  14,  18).  To  this 
more  inner  and  spiritual  aspect  of  "  the  Kingdom," 
the  theme  uppermost  in  their  thoughts,  the  disciples 
were  however  not  yet  fully  alive.  What  they  see 
in  their  Lord's  promise  is  shown  by  the  question : 
"Lord,  dost  Thou  at  this  time  purpose  restoring 
the  kingdom  to  Israel."  The  national,  external, 
and  forcibly  sudden  side  of  the  traditional  Messianic 
Hope  still  possesses  their  mind  and  imagination.  But 
He  waves  aside  all  questions  of  time,  referring  such 

1  Cb.  xv.  9,  "wherefore  we  also  devote  the  eighth  day  (i.  e., 
Sunday)  to  gladness,  wherein  Jesus  also  rose  from  the  dead  and 
after  appearing  ascended  into  heaven." 


The  Kingdom  of  Israel, 


matters  to  the  Father's  own  good  pleasure  ;  and  again 
leads  their  thought  back  to  the  essential  thing,  the 
Spirit-given  power  needed  to  make  them  able  wit- 
nesses to  Himself  and  His  gospel,  whether  in  Jerusa- 
lem or  in  all  Palestine  or  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.1 
There  are  those  who  would  include  among  "  the 
things  touching  the  Kingdom  of  God,"  wherein  the 
disciples  were  taught  during  this  transition  period, 
the  germs  at  least  of  ecclesiastical  institutions.  To 
this  there  is  one  sufficient  reply  derived  from  the 
narrative  itself ;  namely,  that  men  still  dreaming  of 
an  immediate  consummation  of  God's  Kingdom  in 
Israel  were  incapable  of  even  conceiving  a  divine 
Kingdom  such  as  actually  emerged  in  the  Christian 
Church.  The  very  notion,  then,  is  an  anachronism. 
The  Ecclesia  or  Sacred  Congregation  of  the  People 
of  God,  that  was  floating  before  their  minds,  was  one 
still  conceived  on  Jewish  lines,  an  Israel  within 
Israel,  such  as  meets  us  in  Isaiah  xl-lxvi.  It  was  to 
become  faithful  by  adhesion  to  Messiah;  that  was 
the  one  difference  between  it  and  the  old.  Other- 
wise the  institutions  remained  as  before,  the  old 
national  ones,  save  in  so  far  as  Messiah's  visible 
regal  presence  might  involve  a  share  in  govern- 
mental functions  for  His  leading  followers,  "  sitting 
on  thrones  and  judging  the  tribes  of  Israel." 

So  far  we  have  but  summarized  the  account  of  the 
resurrection  appearances  given  in   Acts.     But  our 

•Here  our  author  seems,  in  his  subtle  indirect  manner,  to  in- 
troduce the  virtual  plan  of  his  second  book,  foreshadowing  the 
final  range  of  the  Apostolic  Ministry  in  continuation  of  that  of 
their  Lord  (i.  8,  cf.  1). 


The  Apostolic  Age. 


earliest  witness  is  of  course  St.  Paul,  who  here  (by 
a  rare  exception)  is  explicit  and  even  detailed  in 
dealing  with  an  historical  matter.  The  point  was  to 
him  indeed  crucial  for  his  faith  and  apostleship.  In 
1  Cor.  xv.  Iff,  he  is  reminding  his  converts  of  his 
original  Gospel  message  to  them ;  and  for  historic 
details  that  lay  beyond  his  own  experience  he  ap- 
peals to  the  witness  of  the  original  apostles,  touch- 
ing which  he  must  have  had  full  knowledge.  Hence 
his  references,  brief  as  they  are,  must  be  taken  as  our 
ultimate  basis  in  the  matter.  Christ  had  died,  been 
buried,  and  then  raised  up  on  the  third  day  (accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures).  Then  the  order  of  His  succes- 
sive appearances  among  men  was  as  follows :  To 
Cephas,  then  to  the  Twelve ;  next  to  over  500 
brethren  on  one  single  occasion  Q<pdxa$),  of  whom 
the  majority  were  still  alive  ;  next  He  appeared  to 
James,  then  to  the  Apostles  one  and  all  (toTs  dnoaroXo^ 
naves')  :  and  last  of  all,  as  to  one  untimely  born,  He 
appeared  to  Paul  also.  From  this  pregnant  passage 
some  important  inferences  may  be  drawn.  (1)  First 
the  explicit  statement  "and  that  He  was  buried," 
coming  between  "  He  died  "  and  "  He  was  raised," 
proves  Paul's  belief  in  a  highly  objective  resurrec- 
tion, including  a  bodily  somewhat,  though  of  a  non- 
fleshly  order.  It  was  the  prototype  in  fact  of  the 
"  spiritual  body "  in  which  the  believer  is  clothed 
at  resurrection  (cf.  Phil.  iii.  21),  in  contrast  to  the 
"sensuous  body"  (4>uyv/.w~)  committed  to  the  earth 
(ib.  44).  And  this  confirms  the  view,  often  confi- 
dently challenged,  that  the  "  empty  grave  "  was  an 
element  in  the  original  Apostolic  witness,  not  a  later 


St.  Paul  on   Christ's  Resurrection. 


supplement.  (2)  Next  his  use  in  his  own  case  of 
the  words  l  "  as  to  the  one  untimely  born  "  implies, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  he  conceived  the  appearance 
to  himself  to  have  been  like  the  rest  constituting  the 
series ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  series  itself 
was  not  an  unbroken  one,  distributed  evenly  over 
the  considerable  period  between  the  Passion  and 
his  own  Conversion.  Rather  there  was  a  period  of 
frequent  Christophanies ;  then  they  seemed  to  cease 
altogether;  and  the  unlooked-for  recurrence  in  his 
own  case  was  an  anomaly,  as  it  were,  of  Divine 
Grace.  (3)  This  falls  in  with  the  impression  con- 
veyed by  our  Gospels,  though  it  goes  beyond  them 
in  naming  several  otherwise  unrecorded  appear- 
ances, and  again  takes  no  notice  of  some,  notably 
those  to  Mary  and  to  the  two  disciples  on  the  road 
to  Emmaus,  found  in  John  (cf.  Matt,  xxviii.  9)  and 
Luke  respectively.2     (4)  Once  more,  the  prominent 

»The  idea  is  that  of  an  immature  birth,  involving  (1)  irregularity 
of  time — here  an  unexpected,  abrupt  call  from  darkness  to  light  ; 
(2)  the  weakness  of  immaturity— by  natural  opportunity  he  was 
the  worst  off  among  apostles,  while  yet  grace  had  accomplished 
most  through  him. 

3  Paul's  list  makes  no  claim  to  be  exhaustive.  In  particular  it 
does  not  negative  the  idea  that  there  was  any  Christophany  to 
women,  one  or  more,  such  as  John  (xx.  11-18,  cf.  Matt,  xxviii. 
9,  10)  records.  Paul  is  recording  the  official  testimony  to  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  which  could  be  put  forth  to  convince  men 
anywhere  and  everywhere.  But  in  witness  of  this  responsible 
sort,  women  would  hold  no  place  ;  partly  because  women  were  at 
a  discount  in  that  age  and  would  not  tell  as  witnesses,  and  partly 
because  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  women's  testimony  had  not  car- 
ried conviction  even  to  the  disciples  who  first  heard  it.  Hence 
whether  Paul  had  or  had  not  heard  of  it,  he  had  here  no  reason 
to  refer  to  it  (cf.  end  of  Mark's  Gospel  in  the  MS.  known  as  L.). 


6  The  Apostolic  Age. 

place  assigned  to  Peter,  as  if  at  least  the  primary 
witness  of  the  Risen  Christ,  answers  to  the  hint  in 
Luke  xxiv.  34.  There  it  appears  that  to  Simon  the 
Lord  had  appeared  even  earlier  than  to  those  on 
the  road  to  Emmaus ;  so  that  in  fact  Peter's  wit- 
ness was  the  prime  factor  in  the  conviction  of  the 
Apostolic  circle.  (5)  Finally  the  run  of  the  sen- 
tences ("that  He  was  raised  on  the  third  day  .  .  . 
and  that  He  appeared  to  Cephas,  then l  to  the 
Twelve  ")  tends  to  support  the  view  implied  in  our 
Gospels,  that  the  very  first  appearances  were  on  the 
day  of  Resurrection  itself  (which  apart  from  some 
such  manifestation  could  hardly  be  dated  at  all), 
and  therefore  in  Jerusalem,  not  in  Galilee  as  some 
eminent  critics  assert. 

Is  it  urged  that  Christ  Himself  is  recorded  in  Mark 
and  Matthew  to  have  appointed  Galilee  as  trysting- 
place  for  His  disciples?  An  obvious  reply  is  that 
Matthew2  actually  records  the  realization  of  this 
forecast  (xxviii.  16),  and  yet  records  also  an  earlier 
appearance  to  women  on  their  affrighted  return  from 
the  Sepulchre.  The  Evangelist  cannot,  then,  have 
understood  the  reference  to  Galilee  in  the  way  here 
suggested.  Again  if  the  words  preceding  the  Mas- 
ter's reference  to  Galilee,  "I  will  smite  the  shepherd 
and  scattered  shall  be  the  sheep,"  are  taken  to  imply 
a  universal  flight  of  His  followers  from  Jerusalem  ere 
the  Resurrection  morn — this  after  all  is  quite  arbi- 

1  "Then"  (elra),in  contrast  to  "next"  (e7r££ra),  suggests  that 
any  gap  in  time,  following  on  the  appearance  to  Peter,  came  after 
and  not  before  the  appearance  to  "  the  Twelve." 

8  Mark  lacks  its  original  ending,  and  so  cannot  be  cited. 


The   Christophanies. 


trary.  Granting  that  the  disciples  were  scattered 
from  the  Master's  side  by  the  very  act  of  His  arrest, 
yet  some  at  least  stayed  in  Jerusalem  to  see  the  ap- 
parent end  in  His  death.  And  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  then  at  least  they  must  have  straightway 
departed.  Rather  they  would  be  so  stunned  as  to 
remain  passive,  waiting  at  least  to  the  end  of  the 
Feast  that  had  brought  them  thither.1 

Hence  there  is  nothing  to  mar  the  intrinsic  prob- 
ability that  the  first  Christophanies  surprised  Peter 
and  the  Apostolic  circle  still  in  Jerusalem  (see  Acts 
xiii.  31).  Then,  the  feast  ended,  they  departed  to 
realize  it  all  in  the  quiet  of  their  Galilean  homes  and 
await,  no  longer  in  despair  but  in  awful  hope,  further 
heavenly  guidance.  Here  would  come  in  the  Galilean 
Christophanies,  those  of  the  second  epoch  introduced 
by  Paul  with  the  word  "  next."  These  include  sev- 
eral successive  episodes.  First  "  to  over  500  disciples 
on  a  single  occasion,"  probably  with  the  eleven  Apos- 
tles at  their  head  (cf.  Matt,  xxviii.  16  f.)  ;  next  "to 
James,"  so  making  him  at  once  a  believer  and  an 
Apostle  in  the  wider  sense — the  sense  in  which  it  is 
added,  "  then  to  the  Apostles  one  and  all,"  an  ex- 

1  This  indeed  is  explicitly  stated  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Peter, 
probably  compiled  on  the  basis  of  our  four  Gospels  in  the  second 
or  third  quarter  of  the  second  century,  but  containing  supple- 
mentary matter  which  sometimes  has  verisimilitude.  The  frag 
ment  recovered  five  or  six  years  ago  in  Egypt  ends  as  follows  : 
"  Now  it  was  the  last  day  of  the  unleavened  bread  and  many  went 
forth  returning  to  their  homes,  as  the  feast  was  ended."  Then 
comes  a  passage  taking  us  at  once  to  John  xxi.  The  whole  fol- 
lows on  the  vision  of  angels  to  the  women  on  the  third  day;  and 
the  absence  of  reference  to  Jerusalem  appearances  is  clearly  due 
to  its  Docetic  Christology. 


The  Apostolic  Age. 


pression :  to  be  distinguished  from  "  the  Twelve " 
already  named.  Such  a  vision  or  visions  consti- 
tuted them,  by  the  standards  of  the  Apostolic  Age,2 
"Apostles"  rather  than  mere  "disciples."  And 
"  last  of  all "  in  the  whole  series,  Paul  continues — 
classing  himself  perhaps  with  the  aforesaid  Apos- 
tolic class  ("the  least  of  Apostles,"  v.  9)— "as  to 
the  one  born  out  of  due  time,  He  appeared  to  me 
likewise." 

The  net  result  is  to  confirm  the  impression  con- 
veyed by  Acts,  that  before  the  Twelve  and  certain 
other  disciples  had  gathered  again  at  Jerusalem  on 
the  eve  of  the  ascension,  a  series  of  Christophanies, 
extending  over  a  month  or  more,  had  already  taken 
place.  And  though  we  cannot  indicate  the  exact 
point  in  Paul's  enumeration  with  which  Acts  ch.  i. 
6-14  might  best  coincide,  yet  no  great  forcing  seems 
needful  to  secure  a  general  harmony  of  outline  be- 
tween Paul's  account  on  the  one  hand  and  those  of 
the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  on  the  other.3  When, 
and  under  what  incentives,  the  return  from  Gali- 
lee took  place,  we  cannot  say  precisely.  Prob- 
ably it  was  somewhat  on  this  wise.     Having  been 

1  Perhaps  too  it  implies  by  its  form  (-natTcs  after  rol?  dnoffToXms), 
and  by  its  close  connection  with  James'  case,  a  whole  series  of 
similar  appearances  to  individuals. 

2  See  1  Cor.  ix.  1,  5&,  where  Paul  seems  to  imply  this. 

3  The  probability  is  that  the  final  appearance  vouchsafed  to  the 
larger  Apostolic  circle  was  in  Jerusalem  itself  (cf.  Lukexxiv.  50). 
Nor  have  we  reason  to  suppose  that  any  Christophanies  occurred 
after  the  ascension,  the  case  of  Paul,  "  the  untimely  born,"  being 
in  fact  the  unique  exception.  Paul  himself  distinguished  such 
Christophanies  from  mere  "  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord," 
such  as  he  refers  to  in  2  Cor.  xi.  1. 


The  Return  to  Jerusalem. 


convinced  by  a  series  of  Christophanies  in  Galilee 
that  their  Master  had  been  vindicated  by  resurrec- 
tion as  Messiah  in  spite  of  the  episode  of  death 
(hitherto  to  them  no  part  of  the  Messianic  forecast 
in  prophecy  and  tradition),  the  Eleven  and  other 
personal  disciples  repaired  to  Jerusalem,  expecting 
His  immediate  return  to  the  nation  in  power  and 
majesty,  in  its  sacred  capital,  the  scene  of  His  death. 
This  is  the  thought  latent  in  the  question  possessing 
their  souls  in  Acts  i.  6  ff.,  where  they  inquire,  "  Lord, 
is  it  at  this  present  time  that  thou  restorest  the  king- 
dom to  Israel  ?  "  The  question,  too,  suggests  that 
they  had  come  up  to  Jerusalem  as  in  obedience  to 
the  Master's  example  in  His  last  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
with  the  brief  triumph  of  the  public  entry.  What  they 
had  then  anticipated  without  any  check,  that  they 
were  looking  for  after  the  great  tragedy,  in  the  faith 
that  once  more  He  lived  and  that  with  a  more  divine 
life  than  before.  In  fact  He  had  already  been  in- 
stalled as  Messiah  by  God's  great  intervention,  and 
the  words  of  Psalm  ex.  were  now  His  heritage  : 
"  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  at  My  right 
hand  until  I  have  made  thy  enemies  the  footstool  of 
thy  feet  "  (iii.  20  f.). 

It  was  as  they  waited,  still  expectant  of  some  great 
crisis  of  return  on  His  part,  that  the  promised  expe- 
rience of  the  day  of  Pentecost  came  on  them  un- 
awares. Without  as  yet  radically  changing  their 
conceptions,  it  impelled  them  to  the  ministry  of  wit- 
nessing to  others  what  they  had  experienced.  This 
they  did  with  the  added  assurance  that  the  pouring 
forth  of  the  Spirit  was  a  fresh  token  that  Jesus  was 


10  The  Apostolic  Age. 

installed  as  Messiah  in  heaven,  that  it  indeed  marked 
the  first  stage  of  the  great  Day  of  Jehovah  spoken 
of  in  Joel  ii.  28  ff.  (Acts  ii.  16  ff.  33).  They  felt 
themselves  impelled  to  take  up  their  Lord's  work  of 
preparing  Israel  for  the  great  Day  of  reckoning  and 
purification,  such  as  the  Baptist  had  conceived  the 
Messiah's  Day  to  be  (Luke  iii.  16, 17).  The  genuine 
Israel  was  to  be  separated  from  the  then  crooked 
generation  (Acts  ii.  40),  and  so  share  salvation  in  the 
Messianic  Kingdom.  With  such  conceptions  in  mind 
we  can  enter  into  the  course  of  events  in  these  early 
days. 

Besides  the  Eleven,  who  seem  to  have  lodged  to- 
gether (i.  13),  there  were  prominent  in  the  body  of 
some  120  disciples,  then  in  Jerusalem,  certain  women 
(a  class  noticed  particularly  also  in  Luke's  Gospel, 
viii.  2  f.;  xxiii.  49),  including  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  also  His  own  brethren,  whose  honored  status 
in  the  early  community  is  confirmed  by  Paul  (1  Cor. 
ix.  5  ;  xv.  7).  This  inner  circle  is  described  as  much 
given  to  united  prayer,  probably  in  the  large  upper- 
room  in  the  Apostles'  lodgings,  as  well  as  more  in- 
dividually in  the  Temple  :  and  their  frame  of  mind 
was  one  of  praise  and  great  joy  (Luke  xxiv.  52-53). 
This  cheerful  spirit  and  this  close  sympathy  continue 
to  mark  all  that  follows.  They  were  essentially  in 
fellowship — "  together  "  is  the  phrase  used  Qm  rd 
abrb,  i.  15  ;  ii.  1,  44,  47  :  cf.  Luke  xvii.  35).  To  this 
circle  Peter  soon  suggested  the  election  of  some  one 
to  restore  the  Apostolic  body  to  its  original  number, 
doubtless  felt  to  have  symbolic  meaning  in  relation 


The   Gift  of  Tongues.  11 

to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel 1  (cf.  Luke  xxii.  30 ; 
Matt.  xix.  28). 

Incidentally,  we  learn  the  original  qualifications  of 
an  Apostle,  viz,  to  have  accompanied  Jesus  through- 
out His  ministry  (reckoned  from  the  baptism)  and 
seen  Him  after  the  resurrection.  We  gather  more- 
over, that  Barsabbas  (or  Justus)  and  Matthias  were 
only  the  two  selected  candidates  from  a  larger  num- 
ber of  such  persons  not  included  in  the  favored 
Eleven.2  The  obscurity  into  which  Matthias  at  once 
passes  is  one  shared  by  most  of  his  colleagues  ;  a  fact 
which  should  warn  us  against  attributing  to  the 
Twelve  as  such  too  much  influence,  as  distinct  from 
the  leadership  of  two  or  three  marked  personal- 
ities. Such  "  Pillars  "  were  Peter  and  the  sons  of 
Zebedee,3  to  whom  must  be  added  James,  the  Lord's 
brother.  Indeed,  ere  very  long  the  quasi-dynastic 
prestige  of  the  blood-relations  of  Jesus  the  Messiah 
came  among  Jewish  Christians  to  overshadow  the 
standing  of  all  Apostles,  save  Cephas  only  (note  the 
ascending  scale  in  1  Cor.  ix.  5). 

Of  the  Pentecostal  gift  of  the  Spirit  we  have 
already  seen  the  significance.  One  or  two  special 
points,  however,  invite  notice.  First  as  to  the  at- 
tendant gift  of  "  tongues,"  our  narrative  plainly 
points  to  various  languages  as  blending  in  this  in- 

1  Here  the  story  of  Judas'  fate  is  given  in  a  parenthesis  (already 
in  Luke's  source),  and  in  a  form  probahly  less  exact  than  in  Matt, 
xxvii.  5-8  :  see  Ramsay,  St.  Paul  367  f. 

2Cf.  Hort,  Christian  Ecclesia  22  ff.,  on  the  term  "Apostle"  in 
the  Gospels  and  in  Acts. 

3  Gal.  ii.  9;  cf.  Acts  iii.  1  ;  xii.  2. 


12  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

spired  utterance.  Men  differing  in  speech  recognized 
each  his  own  among  the  words  spoken.  But  the 
impression  suggested  by  the  glosaolalia  of  1  Cor. 
xii.-xiv.  is  of  another  kind,  that  namely  of 
ecstatic  adoration  in  praise  or  prayer,  addressed 
not  so  much  to  men  as  to  God.  Men  cannot  follow 
the  speaker  who  in  Spirit  is  uttering  "  mysteries  " 
or  truths  under  an  obscure  form.  Hence,  Paul  con- 
trasts it  with  "  prophecy "  which  edifies  others, 
whereas  "  he  that  speaketh  in  a  tongue  l  edifies  but 
himself  "(1  Cor.  xiv.  2-4,  28).  Purely  emotional  or 
inarticulate  ejaculations  were  apt  so  to  get  the  upper 
hand  as  to  sacrifice  all  intelligibility  (xiv.  7-9). 
Against  this  danger  he  warns  the  Corinthians  by 
way  of  remonstrance.  There  is  a  gift  of  "interpre- 
tation "  relative  to  tongues,  which  majr  be  found  in 
the  same  person  or  in  another  (1  Cor.  xii.  10,  28 ; 
xiv.  5,  27  f.).  And  in  church-meeting  at  least,  the 
one  gift  should  not  be  exercised  apart  from  the  pres- 
ence of  the  other ;  else  would  there  be  no  general 
benefit ;  especially  as  tongues  are  for  a  sign  to  unbe- 
lievers rather  than  for  believers,  and  the  former 
would  be  apt  to  scoff  at  the  phenomena  as  mere  mad- 
ness unless  interpretation  followed  (xiv.  22,  23).2 

ll'Tongue"  (jXwaaa)  is  here  technical  for  speech  distinctive  of 
the  spiritual  life,  just  as  Greeks  used  it  of  "  barbarian  "  speech. 
The  new  religious  experience  did  in  fact  create  a  new  language  of 
its  own,  one  of  more  immediate  speech  with  God  in  ecstatic 
prayer  (1  Cor.  xiv.  2,  14).  It  seemed  to  outsiders  a  soliloquy ; 
and  Paul  aimed  at  keeping  the  reflective  mind  (yoo'z)  cooperating 
with  the  faculty  of  inspired  emotion  (7zveu/ia)  dominant  in  glosso- 
lalia,  in  order  that  "interpretation  "  might  be  possible  (ib.  7-19, 
27). 

8 Paul   ascribes   to   a   single   person   "tongues"   or  "kinds   of 


In  Paul  and  Acts.  13 

The  faculty  of  such  interpretation  is  by  Paul 
treated  as  a  special  gift  of  the  Spirit;  whereas  at 
Pentecost  it  is  otherwise.  And  on  the  whole  a 
broad  contrast  between  the  two  accounts  must  be 
recognized.  It  is  simplest  to  suppose  that  from  the 
source  used  for  Acts  ii.  Luke  had  gathered  that  a 
phenomenon  of  exceptional  nature,  namely  ecstatic 
speech  in  foreign  tongues,  had  inaugurated  the 
Messianic  era  of  the  Spirit.  In  fidelity  to  his  au- 
thority he  so  set  it  down,  feeling  that  it  was  generic- 
ally  the  same  (if  specifically  different)  as  the  glosso- 
lalia  which  he  knew  from  personal  experience,  and 
to  which  he  refers  several  times  in  his  subsequent 
narrative.  The  peculiarity  of  a  "  tongue  "  was  its 
ejaculatory,  emotional,  often  abrupt  form ;  accord- 
ingly, words  in  several  languages  might  emerge,  in 
moments  when  reflection  was  in  abeyance,  seeing 
that  many  early  Christians  were  at  least  bilingual 
or  trilingual.  Hence  the  two  conceptions  are  not 
quite  mutually  exclusive,  if  in  part  based  on  differ- 
ent aspects  of  the  glossolalia.1  But  we  cannot  hesi- 
tate for  a  moment  in  declaring  for  Paul's  description 
as  reflecting  the  normal  facts  touching  the  "gift  of 
tongues "  in  the  Apostolic  Age :  and  it  is  hard  to 
believe,  in  view  of  the  back-references  in  Acts  x. 
46  f.,  xi.  15    (where    the    source  used  is   probably 

tongues"  (xiii.  1;  xiv.  10),  possibly  alluding  to  the  respective 
forms  of  prayer,  praise  (^cd/ioc),  thanksgiving  (jzukoyia),  dis- 
tinguished in  ch.  xiv.  13-16. 

1,1  Jesus — anathema,"  "  Jesus— Lord,"  "Our  Lord  cometh  " 
(Maranatha),  "Abba,  Father,"  such  ejaculatory  utterances — some- 
times, perhaps,  the  result  of  a  thought  breaking  suddenly  on  the 
soul — contribute  something  to  our  knowledge  of  the  facts. 


14  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

different),  that  the  Pentecostal  form  of  it  was  really 
as  unique  as  has  usually  been  assumed.  Paul  him- 
self quotes  the  prophecy  about  God's  speaking  to 
His  people  "  by  men  of  strange  tongues  "  as  exempli- 
fied in  principle  by  glossolalia.  And  it  is  quite 
possible  that  in  time  confusion  arose  between  the 
two  senses  of  the  word  "strange,"  and  that  this  has 
crept  into  the  account  in  Acts.  The  fact  at  the 
bottom  of  glossolalia  in  any  form  was  one  and  the 
same.  In  it  men  were  raised  above  their  normal 
selves  by  a  divine  impulse.  And  this  is  the  feature 
to  which  Peter's  argument  appeals  in  citing  Joel.  The 
Messianic  Age  was  to  be  essentially  the  age  of  the 
Spirit  present  in  the  whole  people.  And  it  is  of  the 
first  importance  to  bear  this  conception  in  mind 
throughout:  otherwise  the  genius  of  Apostolic  Chris- 
tianity and  its  usages  cannot  be  grasped.  Peter's 
speech  is  full  of  traditional  Messianic  conceptions. 
These  still,  as  for  long  after,  overlaid  in  the  minds 
of  the  disciples  certain  things  most  distinctive  of 
Jesus,  their  Messiah,  and  so  hindered  the  full  effect 
of  His  Spirit  upon  their  thoughts  and  ideals.  The 
categories  through  which  they  viewed  Him  officially, 
as  distinct  from  their  memory  of  His  personality  and 
ways,  they  held  in  common  with  their  unconverted 
hearers.  And  so  the  violent  and  catastrophic  note 
prevails  in  Peter's  discourse.  His  standpoint  is  very 
much  that  of  a  prophecy  like  Malachi,  with  its  search- 
ing Messenger  of  the  Covenant,  who  should  work 
as  a  refiner's  fire  among  the  people,  consuming  the 
dross  and  gathering  the  true  Israel  into  a  yet  closer 
relation.     Such  a   Messianic    community   would   in 


The  Messianic   Community:  15 

truth  be  Jehovah's  "  Kingdom,"  a  theocracy  to  which 
all  the  Gentiles  should  be  subject  in  one  way  or 
another.  This  coalesces  with  the  picture  of  the 
Davidic  Messiah  set  forth  in  certain  Psalms.  Final 
deliverance  from  death  and  corruption  (Ps.  xvi.)  and 
exaltation  at  God's  right  hand  of  power  (Ps.  ex.) 
are  realized  in  the  resurrection  and  ascension  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  And  so  the  burden  of  Peter's  words 
as  reported,  and  of  the  "  other  words  besides  "  (v.  40), 
was  "Save  yourselves  from  this  crooked  generation." 
In  this  light  must  we  view  the  call,  "  Repent  and  be 
baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  unto  remission 
of  sins  and  the  reception  of  the  royal  bounty  in  the 
form  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  Baptism  here  means  the 
washing  away  of  the  stains  of  the  sinful  past  (xxii. 
16),  repented  of  and  forgiven  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Messiah.  This  forgiveness  is  viewed  as  ratified  by 
the  gracious  gift  of  the  Spirit,  wherewith  the  heavenly 
King  pledges  His  favor  restored  to  those  who  yield 
themselves  in  penitent  homage  unto  obedience  of 
faith.  Such  elect  souls  were  then  added  to  the  ex- 
isting community  or  fellowship — the  nucleus  of  re- 
generate Israel :  and  the  life  of  close  communion 
thus  begun  is  summarized  in  the  statement  that 
"  they  were  attending  steadfastly  upon  the  Apostles' 
teaching  and  upon  the  fellowship — the  breaking  of 
(the)  bread  and  the  prayers."  By  "  the  breaking  of 
bread  "  is  meant  a  meal  of  Communion,  the  primitive 
form  of  Eucharistic  service,  "  an  expressive  act  by 
which  the  unity  of  the  many  as  partakers  of  the  one 
Divine  sustenance  (life)  is  signified."  So  close  in- 
deed was  their  sense  of  oneness  in  interest,  their 


16  I1  he  Apostolic  Age. 

spiritual  family-feeling,  that  "  the  believers  in  fellow- 
ship "  (ki:\  to  auro)  observed,  in  fact  community  in 
the  use  of  their  goods  ;  where  there  was  need,  there 
at  once  was  supply ;  and  that  by  no  constraint  other 
than  that  of  loving  sympathy.  Nor  did  they  with- 
draw from  the  wonted  forms  of  Jewish  piety,  but 
rather  filled  them  to  the  full  with  their  new-found 
enthusiasm  of  glad  motive.  They  haunted  the 
Temple ;  they  also  in  home-gatherings  broke  the 
bread  of  sacred  fellowship,  so  finding  an  exultant 
joy  in  their  very  food,  with  praise  to  God  the  Giver 
of  all,  both  physical  and  spiritual.  And  that  they 
did  not  loosen  any  tie  binding  them  to  Jewish  piety, 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  were  in  favor  with 
the  whole  people  and  had  constant  accessions  to 
the  safe  haven  of  their  fellowship  (vv.43-47). 

What  then  are  we  to  think  of  such  a  relation  to 
Judaism,  in  the  light  of  their  Master's  own  principles 
and  inner  spirit?  We  mitst  distinguish  sharply  be- 
tween practice  and  mental  attitude.  In  the  former 
respect  they  were  in  perfect  continuity  with  the 
path  pursued  by  Jesus  Himself;  and  there  is  nothing 
to  show  that  He  would  have  had  them  act  otherwise. 
But  as  regards  religious  outlook,  the  contrast  is 
more  noteworthy  even  than  the  likeness.  Not  that 
Jesus  had  taken  up  a  formally  critical  or  negative 
attitude  either  to  the  Mosaic  Law  or  to  the  Messianic 
ideal  of  His  day:  but  His  spirit  in  relation  to  both 
was  none  the  less  above  the  thoughts  of  the  Judseo- 
Christian  mind.  Christ  was  the  "  fulfiller  "  of  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  "  in  that  He  sought  to  give 


The   Old  and  the  New  Israel.  17 


effect  to  their  true  purpose  and  inner  meaning.  He 
indicated  that  for  Himself  and  His  true  disciples  the 
old  form  of  the  Law  had  ceased  to  be  binding ;  but 
He  did  not  disobey  its  precepts  or  even  the  pre- 
cepts of  tradition,  or  encourage  His  disciples  to 
do  so,  except  in  so  far  as  obedience  would  have 
promoted  that  Pharisaic  misuse  of  the  Law  and 
of  tradition  alike  which  called  for  His  warmest  de- 
nunciations. Nay,  He  did  homage  to  that  (for  its 
time)  right  service  of  the  old  order  which  was  repre- 
sented by  John  the  Baptist,  though  He  at  the  same 
time  proclaimed  its  entirely  lower  and  transitory 
character.  .  .  .  The  fundamental  point,  a  ful- 
filment of  the  Law  which  was  not  a  literal  retention 
of  it  as  a  code  of  commandments,  was,  as  it  is  still, 
a  conception  hard  to  grasp :  it  was  easier  either  to 
perpetuate  the  conditions  of  the  old  covenant  or  else 
to  blaspheme  them.1  Again,  there  was  ample  matter 
for  apparent  contradiction  in  the  necessity  for  a  time 
of  transition,  during  which  the  old  order  would  live 
on  by  the  side  of  the  new,  not  Divinely  deprived  of 
its  ancient  sanctity,  and  yet  laid  under  a  Divine 
warning  of  not  distant  extinction.  .  .  .  The 
great  point  to  remember  is,  that  it  was  hardly  possi- 
ble for  either  aspect  (of  Christ's  attitude)  to  be  for- 
gotten in  men's  recollections  of  the  original  Gospel 
at  any  period  of  the  Apostolic  Age,  however  vaguely 
and  confusedly  both  might  be  apprehended."  ' 

iThe  media  via  here  marked  out  underlies  the  well-known  say- 
ing in  Codex  Bezse,  addressed  to  a  man  found  working  in  the  field 
op  the  Sabhath:  "O  man,  if  thou  knowest  what  thou  doest, 
blessed  art  thou ;  but  if  thou  knowest  not,  accursed  art  thou  and 
a  transgressor  of  the  Law." 

*Hort,  Judaistic  Christianity,  36-38. 

B 


18  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Some  difficulty  has  not  unreasonably  been  felt 
about  the  large  numbers  into  which  the  Church 
leaped  suddenly,  here  some  3,000,  and  a  little  later 
some  5,000  men  alone  (iv.  4).  Would  not  so  large 
and  striking  a  movement  have  forthwith  caused 
serious  friction  with  the  authorities?  But  there  was 
as  yet  no  formal  Church  to  mark  off  all  believers  in 
Jesus  as  Messiah  from  their  fellows;  their  orthodoxy 
of  practice  would  at  once  contribute  to  their  numbers 
and  protect  them  from  persecution.  And  indeed, 
until  they  threatened  public  order  by  the  marked 
excitement  caused  by  such  deeds  and  words  as  are 
next  recorded,  they  had  as  much  right  to  be  as  any 
other  sect  in  Judaism.  Still  it  is  likely  that  in  the 
picture  just  given  (apart  from  the  3,000)  Luke  anti- 
cipates somewhat,  as  is  allowable  in  a  summary. 

(b)     Days  of  Friction  (Acts  iii.-v.). 

Our  author  having  just  referred  to  "wonders  and 
signs "  as  wrought  through  the  Apostles  (ii.  43), 
now  proceeds  in  Chapter  iii.  to  cite  an  instance,  the 
healing  of  the  lame  man  at  the  gate  of  the  Temple 
called  "Beautiful."  His  account  is  not  only  most 
vivid,  but  also  witnesses  indirectly  to  the  correct 
Jewish  piety  of  the  Apostles  as  regards  Temple- 
worship  and  due  hours  of  prayer.1  The  reference  to 
Solomon's  Porch  as  the  spot  where  Peter  gave  his 
second  address,  in  explanation  of  this  miracle,  is  a 
mark  of  originality ;  and  the  speech  itself,  which  is 
full  of  Hebraic  touches,  may  be  considered  typical 

1  "  To  observe  the  hour  of  prayer,  the  ninth  hour  "  (iii.  1),  i.  e., 
3  P.  M. 


The  Primitive  Preaching.  19 

of  the  line  taken  in  the  preaching  of  these  early  clays. 
As  such  it  contains  certain  phrases  highly  expressive 
of  the  community's  faith  touching  Jesus,  now  felt 
more  than  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  to  be  "  the  pioneer 
Leader  of  life."  It  is  His  Name,  declarative  of  His 
Messianic  office,  that  is  the  ground  of  the  faith 
whereon  turned  the  act  of  power  just  accomplished. 
On  condition  of  penitent  turning  unto  the  Lord  (cf. 
ix.  35)  for  the  cancelling  of  past  sins,  especially  as 
indicated  in  its  late  rejection  of  Jesus,  the  nation 
is  promised  "seasons  of  restoration  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  "  and  the  return  of  the  Christ  prepared 
for  them,  namely  Jesus,  who  is  now  in  heaven  await- 
ing the  times  of  restitution  (cf.  i.  6)  of  all  things 
whereof  God  had  spoken  through  His  prophets  from 
the  first.  Jesus  is  the  "Servant"  of  Jehovah,  the 
Prophet,  whom  God  through  Moses  promised  to 
raise  up,  with  a  view  to  blessing  all  nations  accord- 
ing to  the  covenant  with  Abraham.  It  was  to  them 
first  of  all  that  Jesus  had  been  sent  in  His  earthly 
ministry,  to  bless  them  in  turning  each  away  from 
his  sins.  And  then  Peter  was  about  to  add  that,  if 
even  now  they  would  turn  to  Him  and  accept  the 
Messianic  blessing  for  Israel,  all  would  yet  be  well.1 
But  he  was  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  the  captain 
of  the  Temple,  himself  a  priest  of  high  rank,  and  the 
Sadducees,  who  were  "  distressed  "  at  their  ventur- 

1  How  exactly  ou  the  lines  of  Is.  xl.  ff.  is  this  preaching.  There 
"the  Servant  of  Jehovah,  i.e.,  the  company  of  religious  teachers 
which  formed  the  kernel  of  the  Jewish  people,  was  to  convert, 
first,  lukewarm  or  indifferent  Jews,  and  then  the  otber  nations  to 
the  true  religion  "  (Cbeyne,  Jewish  Religious  Life  after  the  Exile, 
216).  * 


20  The  Apostolic  Age. 

ing  to  teach  the  people  and  proclaim  in  Jesus  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead. 

This  arrest,  both  as  to  its  date  and  the  motive  as- 
signed to  it,  raises  some  questions  tou  ;hing  the  early 
chapters  of  Acts,  and  must  be  examined  in  detail. 
When  we  place  ourselves  resolutely  back  in  these 
early  days,  several  things  become  clear.  There  was 
in  the  first  instance  no  reason  why  the  disciples,  de- 
vout Jews  in  their  practice,  should  not  add  some 
distinctive  beliefs  to  those  generally  received.  There 
were  several  sects  of  this  sort  within  Judaism,  of 
which  the  Essenes  were  an  extreme  instance.  These 
men  were  tolerated  even  in  certain  non-conforming 
features,  such  as  repudiation  of  animal  sacrifice,  which 
led  to  absence  from  the  Temple  feasts.  But  this 
was  largely  because  their  aloofness  from  the  centres 
of  population  made  them  no  danger  to  national  re- 
ligious life  or  public  order.  Similarly,  as  long  as  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  did  not  attract  too  much  attention, 
they  were  in  no  great  danger  of  being  molested 
simply  because  they  chose  to  believe  and  declare 
their  belief  in  One  who  had  been  publicly  crucified 
not  long  since.  But  once  let  them  engross  popular 
attention  beyond  a  given  point,  and  they  became  an 
annoyance  to  the  authorities  both  in  Church  and 
State,  and  their  right  to  teach  in  public  places  was 
like  to  be  challenged.  And  so  it  came  about.  The 
healing  of  the  lame  man  brought  things  to  a  head, 
by  adding  popular  excitement  to  their  wonted  testi- 
mony. Hence  the  Temple  authorities  challenged 
their  right  to  collect  a  crowd  by  their  teaching 
within  the  very  precincts   of   the    authorized    reli- 


The   Challenge  of  the  Authorities.  21 

gion.1  It  was  quite  natural  that  such  opposition 
should  come  from  the  ruling  priestly  order  rather  than 
the  Pharisees,  whose  sphere  was  the  synagogue  ;  and 
the  exact  enumeration  of  several  of  the  high -priestly 
clan  in  Chapter  iv.  6  gives  additional  verisimilitude 
to  the  narrative.  Some,  however,  regard  the  speci- 
fication of  the  Resurrection  as  the  burden  of  this  un- 
authorized "  teaching  "  (iv.  2),  as  due  to  Luke  rather 
than  to  his  source,  on  the  ground  that  "the  Sadducees 
were  not  bigoted  theologians  who  desired  to  stop  the 
mouths  of  all  that  differed  with  them."  But  surely 
their  "creating  too  much  of  an  excitement  in  the 
city  "  by  their  teaching  cannot  be  separated  from  its 
distinctive  note,  the  Resurrection,  which  was  not 
proclaimed  as  an  abstract  dogma,  but  as  true  of 
Jesus  in  particular,  to  whom  everything,  the  recent 
miracle  of  healing  for  instance,  was  constantly  be- 
ing referred.  In  other  words  the  belief  in  the  Resur- 
rection of  Jesus  was  the  root  of  the  fact  of  the 
preaching  and  of  its  results. 

The  object,  then,  of  the  authorities  was,  without 
entering  formally  into  the  content  of  their  preaching, 
to  curtail  their  freedom  of  public  speech  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  existing  order ;  especially  as  belief  in  a 
Messiah  who  had  risen,  and  might  reappear  at  any 
time,  was  apt  to  produce  just  that  unsettlement 
which  would  bring  the  Procurator  down  heavily  on 
the  authorities.  Hence  their  challenge  as  to  the 
power  or  person  authorizing  such  exciting  teaching 
(iv.  7).  To  this  Peter's  reply  is  that  the  warrant  lay 
in  Israel's  Messiah,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  proof  of 
1  Much  as  they  had  challenged  their  Master's  right,  Luke  xx.  1. 


22  The  Apostolic  Age. 

whose  power  stood  before  them  in  the  person  of  the 
man  now  restored  by  faith  in  His  name  and  office. 
"The  Salvation  "  (jj  oW.tt; />:'«,  v.  12),  the  Messianic 
Deliverance  from  all  evils  for  which  Israel  was  look- 
ing, was  to  be  found  in  Him  and  no  other  (9-12). 
Struck  by  the  confident  tone  of  these  unlettered 
men,  the  authorities  "  took  fresh  cognizance  of  the 
fact  that  they  had  been  companions  of  Jesus,"  whose 
person  and  fate  would  be  still  fresh  in  their  memory. 
Their  difficulty  in  taking  action  lay  in  the  fact  that 
a  man  had  been  marvelously  restored ;  and  to  pun- 
ish his  benefactors  would  be  likely  to  create  yet 
further  excitement  among  the  populace  (cf.  21  f.). 
So,  following  the  policy  natural  to  men  in  office  but 
not  strong  in  the  regard  of  their  countrymen,  namely 
that  the  chapter  of  accidents  is  on  the  side  of  those 
who  wait,  they  gave  them  an  official  warning  against 
speaking  any  more  "in  this  Name,"  and  hoped  that 
the  matter  would  go  no  further.  Peter  and  John 
gave  them  no  encouragement  in  their  official 
optimism,  telling  them  it  was  a  matter  not  of 
technical  training  but  of  simple  witness  to  facts. 
And  being  dismissed  with  a  final  word  of  warning, 
they  betook  themselves  forthwith  to  their  friends. 
The  incident  had  one  marked  result :  it  made  the 
populace  more  shy  of  gathering  around  the  Chris- 
tians within  the  Temple  precincts  (v.  13). 

On  return  to  their  own  special  circle,  they  re- 
ported the  authorities'  words,  and  then  with  one 
soul  turned  to  prayer  for  strength  to  obey  God 
rather  than  man.  They  express  their  confidence 
that  the  Sovereign  Lord  of  all  things,  who  had  in 


Steadfastness  of  the  Apostles.  23 


prophecy  foretold  such  enmity  to  Himself  and  His 
Anointed,  held  all  in  His  hand.  Foreigners  and  fel- 
low countrymen  alike  had  wrought  their  will  against 
His  "  Holy  Servant  Jesus,"  His  "  Anointed  One." 
But  nothing  lay  outside  His  fixed  counsel.  And  so, 
looking  past  the  threats,  they  craved  the  grace  of 
"boldness  of  speech"  in  speaking  God's  message,  as 
also  His  manifest  support  in  healings,  signs,  and  won- 
ders, wrought  "  through  the  Name  of  His  Holy  Serv- 
ant, Jesus."  l  Their  prayer  was  answered  by  a  fresh 
experience  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  present  power,  re- 
sulting in  the  needful  "boldness  "  to  continue  their 
preaching.  On  the  other  hand  the  mass  of  believers 
were  as  united  in  heart  and  soul  as  at  the  first,  so 
exhibiting  in  their  way  also  tokens  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  their  midst.  For  selfish  egoism  was  swal- 
lowed up  of  the  love  that  counted  "  mine  "  as  also 
"thine"  among  true  brethren.  So,  supported  by 
rank  and  file,  "  the  commissioned  witnesses  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  "  discharged  their  witness  touching  the 
Resurrection  with  great  power;  while  great  grace 
was  poured  out  upon  them  all.  Insomuch  that  those 
who  possessed  land  or  house  property  sold  it,  to 
bring  the  proceeds  and  place  them  at  the  Apostles' 
disposal:  and  under  their  direction  the  actual  wants 
of  each  were  met  as  they  arose.2     In  this  yielding  of 

1  The  archaic  type  of  this  prayer  will  appear  yet  more  clearly 
when  we  reach  the  prayers  in  the  DidacJie. 

2  Hort  (Christian  Ecclesia,  46)  sees  in  this  the  hint  of  a  "fresh  im- 
pulse towards  consolidation,"  due  to  a  new  sense  that  they  too  were 
called  to  endure  the  same  opposition  which  by  God's  providence 
had  befallen  their  Messiah.  Hence  the  notice  of  their  corporate 
spirit  is  no  otiose  repetition  of  ii.  44  f.,  but  represents  advance  of 


24  The  Apostolic  Aye. 


one's  wealth  outright  to  the  community,  Joseph,  who 
received  from  the  Apostles  the  surname  of  Barnabas 
"  son  of  Consolation  "  (possibly  in  memory  of  this 
helpful  deed),  a  Levite  of  Cypriot  birth,  set  the  most 
notable  example.  Over  against  him,  however,  in  the 
tradition  of  the  community,  stood  in  black  colors  the 
figures  of  Ananias  and  his  wife  Sapphira,  as  typical 
cases  of  insincerity  the  more  shocking  in  proportion 
to  the  atmosphere  of  manifested  Spirit-power  in 
which  they  were  then  living.  They  "  lied  to  the 
Holy  Spirit "  dwelling  in  and  with  the  Apostles.  The 
words  of  Peter  are  evidence  that  there  was  no  strict 
communism,  but  simply  "a  voluntary  and  variable 
contribution  "  to  a  common  stock  on  a  large  scale. 
The  individual  was  not  merged  in  the  community. 
But  the  fact  that  the  new  community  was  attaining 
a  fresh  distinctness  and  cohesion  in  the  consciousness 
both  of  those  within  and  those  without,  seems  sug- 
gested (in  Luke's  subtle,  allusive  way)  by  the  use  for 
the  first  time  of  the  term  "  Church  "  (ecclesia),  in  the 
remark  that  "  great  fear  came  upon  all  the  ecclesia 
and  upon  all  that  heard  of  these  things  "  (v.  II).1 

Thus,  once  more,  a  description  of  the  developing 
community  suggests  itself  to  the  writer.     He  refers 

organization  in  their  common  life  of  love.  Charity  became  cen- 
tralized, as  it  were,  instead  of  being  exercised  by  each  man  in- 
formally to  his  needy  neighbor.  It  also  serves  to  introduce  the 
story  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira. 

irrhe  historicity  of  this  section  has  been  questioned  as  much  as 
that  of  any  in  Acts.  But  the  circumstantiality  of  the  names  is 
against  its  being  "a  moral  apologue."  There  is  nothing  incred- 
ible iu  deaths  caused  by  shock  at  such  a  solemn  exposure  of  de- 
ceit. It  is  incorrect  to  represent  the  narrative  as  implying  that 
Peter  imprecated  death  on  them. 


Pojiularity  and  Second  Arrest.  25 

to  the  fulfilment  of  the  prayer  of  the  Apostolic  circle 
in  the  wonders  wrought  among  the  people  through 
their  instrumentality.  And  then  he  describes  the 
believers  as  more  clearly  differentiated  from  others, 
as  they  congregated  for  teaching  in  Solomon's  Porch 
— "the  great  arcade  reaching  along  the  whole  east 
side  of  the  vast  Temple  precinct."  Outsiders,  how- 
ever, held  aloof  from  their  company  in  public,  on 
account  of  the  former  descent  of  the  authorities. 
Still  the  people  admired  them ;  nay  rather,  there 
were  constantly  being  added  to  them  believers  on 
the  Lord,  numbers  both  of  men  and  women.  So 
much  so,  that  the  sick  were  brought  forth  into  the 
streets  on  couches  in  the  hope  that  Peter's  passing 
shadow  might  perchance  fall  upon  some  one  of  them 
— a  mode  of  statement  that  suggests  no  countenance 
of  the  practice  on  Peter's  part.  Even  the  populace 
in  the  neighboring  towns  were  beginning  to  bring 
their  sick  and  possessed.  This  extension  to  the  ad- 
jacent country  was  a  new  feature. 

Such  popularity  was  too  much  for  the  Jewish  au- 
thorities. The  High  Priest  and  his  party,  the  Sad- 
ducees,  were  filled  with  jealousy — possibly  also  with 
fear  of  Roman  interference.  They  had  already  cau- 
tioned them:  so  now  they  imprisoned  the  Apostles  in 
the  public  jail.1     The  Apostles  are  brought  before 

1  Their  release  by  an  angel  is  probably  a  secondary  feature  in 
the  source  on  which  our  author  draws.  It  looks  like  the  double 
of  Peter's  release  in  ch.  xii.  ;  but  the  special  ground  for  suspicion 
is  that  here  the  deliverance  is  not  effectual,  serving  only  to  en- 
hance the  reader's  sense  that  the  authorities  were  fighting  against 
God.  "The  words  of  this  life"  is  a  primitive  Christian  phrase, 
of  a  piece  with  "the  Leader  of  Life"  (iii.  15)  and  pointing  be- 
hind Luke  to  a  Judseo-Christian  source. 


26  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

"the  Sanhedrin  and  the  whole  senate  of  the  sons  of 
Israel."  The  High  Priest's  remonstrance  recalls  the 
warning  of  Chapter  iv.  18.  He  says,  "We  strictly 
charged  you  not  to  teach  on  the  warrant  of  this 
Name :  and  lo !  ye  have  filled  Jerusalem  with  your 
teaching,  and  are  for  making  us  responsible  for  the 
blood  of  this  man." 

Again  the  Apostolic  appeal  is  to  God,  the  God  who 
in  raising  Jesus  had  cancelled  the  curse  of  crucifixion 
at  their  hands.  "  Him  God  had  by  His  right  hand 
raised  as  Leader  and  Saviour,  to  give  repentance  to 
Israel  and  remission  of  sins":  whereof  they  were  wit- 
nesses, as  well  as  the  Holy  Spirit  which  God  had 
given — a  supreme  Messianic  gift — to  those  who  were 
yielding  Him  obedience.  This  was  a  line  of  reply 
most  galling  to  the  Sadducaic  party,  who  would  fain 
have  done  away  with  such  folk.  But  the  Pharisee 
Gamaliel,  Paul's  master,  counselled  self-restraint  on 
the  ground  that  false  Messiahs  and  their  adherents 
always  came  to  a  speedy  end,  if  left  alone.  So  had 
it  been  with  Theudas,  and  so  with  Judas  of  Galilee. 
So  too  would  it  be  with  these  men,  if  God  was  not 
behind  them.1     Gamaliel's  counsel  prevailed.     And 

'There  is  a  difficulty  about  Theudas.  The  only  one  known  to 
history  (through  Josephus  Ant.  xx.  5,  1)  arose  under  Cuspins 
Fadus.  c.  45  A.  D.,  while  this  one  seems  to  have  lived  some  time 
before  our  date  (c.  30-33),  or  rather  before  Judas  of  Galilee  (the 
Gaulouite,  of  Gamala,  Jos.  Ant.  xviii.  1,  1  ffi,  cf.  xx.  5,  2.  B.  J. 
ii.  8,  1),  who  rose  in  the  days  of  "  the  enrolment  "  under  Qui- 
rinius,  about  the  time  of  the  Christian  era.  But  our  knowledge 
of  the  many  false  Messiahs  is  so  imperfect  that  we  must  leave  the 
difficulty  unsolved,  judgiug  it  meantime  in  the  light  of  our  gen- 
eral estimate  of  Luke  as  a  careful  historian.  See  Luke  xiii.  1 ; 
Mark  xv.  7,  cf.  Luke  xxiii.  19,  for  instances  of  troubles  under 


The  Seven  Almoners.  27 

with  the  extra  deterrent  of  scourging,  they  were 
again  charged  not  to  speak  in  Jesus'  name  and  dis- 
missed, glorying  in  the  honor  of  dishonor  "for  the 
Name."  But  in  no  way  did  the  Apostles  cease  teach- 
ing and  announcing  as  good  news  the  Messiahship  of 
Jesus,  both  in  the  Temple  and  in  private  houses. 
"  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  preaching  of  Stephen 
opens  new  horizons  and  leads  to  a  new  course  of 
events." 

(c)     Stephen  and  Persecution  (Acts  vi.-viii.  3). 

The  Hebraic  phrase  "in  those  days"  with  which 
Chapter  vi.  opens  does  not  help  us  much  chronolog- 
ically (cf.  i.  15 :  ix.  37  ;  xi.  27) ;  but  the  "  disciples  " 
(here  so  called  for  the  first  time  in  Acts  l )  were  at 
any  rate  becoming  numerous,  though  apparently  not 
beyond  the  possibility  of  some  sort  of  common  meet- 
ing on  special  occasion  (v.  2).  Of  organization  proper 
we  have  so  far  had  little  trace ;  and  it  is  doubtful 
whether  there  were  even  "  elders "  in  any  official 
sense  in  the  Messianic  community.  We  have  no 
evidence  that  its  differentiation  from  Judaism  in 
general  had  as  yet  gone  so  far;  and  besides,  to  them 
would  naturally  have  fallen  the  ministry  (cf.  xi.  30) 

Pilate  of  which  we  have  only  the  most  casual  knowledge.  Ramsay 
discnsses  the  matter  afresh  in  his  last  book  (Was  Christ  bom  at 
Bethlehem?  252  ff.).  He  reinforces  his  distinction  between  the 
census  (during  Quirinius'  special  mission  in  Syria)  taken  by 
Herod  and  that  taken  by  Quirinius,  and  claims  that  Luke  should 
be  trusted. 

1  A  mark  perhaps  of  a  new  document :  it  occurs  three  times  in 
seven  verses,  and  seven  times  in  ch.  ix.  Barnabas,  Philip,  or 
Mark,  may  be  suggested  as  possible  authors. 


28  The  Apostolic  Age. 

devolved  on  "  the  Seven,"  as  recorded  in  the  verses 
which  follow.  The  believing  Hellenists  or  Greek- 
speaking  Jews1  settled  in  Jerusalem,  whose  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  body  of  believers  is  obscure, 
were  complaining  that  the  widows  among  them  were 
neglected  in  the  daily  ministration  of  relief,  in  com- 
parison with  the  widows  of  native  Jews  who  would 
be  better  known  and  possibly  more  highly  esteemed 
in  the  community  at  large.2  But  whatever  native 
prejudice  may  have  existed,  the  Twelve  (only  here 
so  described  in  Acts,  cf.  the  Eleven  in  i.  26 ;  ii.  14) 
were  superior  to  it  and,  as  on  several  subsequent 
occasions,  acted  as  a  unifying  and  comprehensive 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  Christian  Ecclesia. 
They  now  convened  the  body  of  the  disciples,  and 
proposed  the  creation  of  a  special  board  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  collective  charity.  They  were 
themselves  loath  to  turn  aside  from  their  proper 
ministry  of  "  the  Word  of  God  "  to  that  of  "  tables." 
Hence  they  bade  the  "  brethren  "  choose  seven  men 
of  good  repute,  "full  of  Spirit  and  of  wisdom,"  for 
them  to  institute  "  over  this  need  "  in  their  stead,  by 
the  usual  Jewish  form  of  Semichah,  the  laying  on  of 
hands  accompanying  the  appointment  of  a  Rabbi  and 

1  Hort  (Jud.  Chr.  48)  remarks  that  "possibly  a  proselyte  might 
also  be  called  a  Hellenist  with  reference  to  his  language ";  cf. 
Nicolaus  in  v.  5. 

s  "In  Judaea  the  use  of  the  Hebrew  language  was  regarded  as  a 
symbol  of  patriotism  and  zeal,  that  of  the  Greek  as  a  token  of 
foreign  sympathies.  The  Hellenists  were  therefore  an  unpopular 
minority  in  Jerusalem,  engaged  for  the  most  part  either  in  the 
service  of  the  Roman  government  or  in  foreign  commerce  and  the 
affairs  of  Jewish  colonies  abroad  "     (Rendall,  ad.  loc). 


Stephen.  29 

admission  to  the  Sanhedrin.  The  multitude  agreed 
and  presented  "Stephen,  a  man  full  of  faith  and 
Holy  Spirit,"  and  Philip  and  Prochorus  and  Nicanor 
and  Timon  and  Parmenas  and  Nicolaus,  a  proselyte 
of  Antiochene  origin — a  list  notable  for  its  ap- 
parently uniform  Hellenist  character.  But  in  any 
case  the  notable  thing  is  that  Hellenists  and  Hebrews 
were  formally  recognized  as  on  one  footing.  The 
persecution  that  ere  long  arose,  through  Stephen's 
preaching,  seems  to  have  dispersed  the  board  of 
Seven.  Accordingly  when  Barnabas  and  Paul  go  up 
with  relief  from  Antioch  in  xi.  30,  it  is  to  the 
"elders"  of  the  community,  now  organized  in  its 
distinctness  on  the  usual  Jewish  lines,  that  they 
formally  present  the  gift.  Philip  is  indeed  styled 
one  of  "  the  Seven  "  in  Acts.  xxi.  8,  as  well  as  "  the 
Evangelist."  But  the  Seven  are  not  called  "  Dea- 
cons," nor  were  they  strictly  the  first  of  the  class 
later  so  described  in  connection  with  the  Pauline 
churches. 

In  this  important  narrative,  then,  we  see  the 
Ecclesia  passing  into  more  organic  being.  There  is 
now  some  differentiation  of  functions;  and  a  share 
of  responsibility  rests  upon  the  members  at  large,  as 
having  selected  the  new  functionaries.  Hence  our 
author  once  more  marks  progress  by  a  general 
statement,  that  "  the  Word  of  God  continued  to 
grow  and  the  number  of  the  disciples  was  multiply- 
ing in  Jerusalem  exceedingly;  and  a  great  multi- 
tude of  the  priests  (getting  over  their  fear)  were 
yielding  obedience  to  the  faith  " — a  new  feature  in 
the  situation. 


30  The  Apostolic  Age. 

The  wider  outlook  of  Hellenistic  Jews  would 
tend  to  give  fresh  emphasis  to  the  less  Judaic  side 
of  their  common  faith.  And  this  we  see  in  the  lead 
taken  by  Stephen,  whose  spiritual  power  of  every 
kind  soon  made  him  a  marked  man  for  friend  and 
foe  alike.  Himself  probably  a  member  of  one  of  the 
synagogues  frequented  by  Hellenists  from  places 
like  Cyrene  and  Alexandria l  in  the  South,  from 
Cilicia  and  Proconsular  Asia  in  the  North  of  the 
Levant  (such  as  Saul  of  Tarsus  may  well  have 
worshipped  in),  Stephen  now  drew  upon  himself  by 
his  powerful  preaching  the  opposition  of  his  fellow 
Hellenists,  probably  anxious  to  show  themselves  not 
a  whit  behind  native  Hebrews  in  zeal  for  the  re- 
ligion of  their  fathers.  The  charge  against  him  was 
like  that  brought  against  Jesus  himself;  and  though 
in  either  case  the  words  alleged  were  probably 
garbled  in  a  sense,  yet  there  was  enough  in  them  to 
justify  the  feeling  that  they  meant  so  unwonted  an 
attitude  to  Mosaism  as  to  appear  blasphemous.  For 
the  appeal  was  to  the  prophetic  instead  of  the  scribal 
conception  of  the  Law  and  of  God.  A  great  stir 
arose  :  and  this  time  it  was  "  the  people  and  the  elders 
and  the  Scribes,"  even  more  than  the  priests  and 
Sadducees,  who  were  affected.  Stephen  was  seized, 
brought  before  the  Sanhedrin,  and  there  confronted 

1  Our  MSS.  place  first"  the  synagogue  of  the  Freedmen  "  (Liber- 
tini),  i.  e.,  men  once  slaves  in  the  Roman  world  or  at  least  of  servile 
origin,  but  now  free.  These  would  certainly  form  a  considerable 
body,  probably  of  men  once  resident  in  Italy.  Blass  suggests  that 
we  should  read  "Libyans"  {Aiftuarlvoi),  the  geographical  neigh- 
bors of  the  Cyreuians.  But  why,  then,  are  Roman  Hellenists 
omitted  entirely  ? 


Stephen's  Sp>eech.  31 


by  witnesses  whose  falsity  lay  in  the  sinister  turn 
they  gave  to  certain  words  he  had  used.  Quite 
possibly  he  had  quoted  the  words  of  Jesus  touching 
the  destruction  of  the  Temple  and  city  as  sure  to  be 
fulfilled  should  the  nation  persistently  refuse  its 
Messiah.  But  he  had  implied  no  disrespect  for 
Temple  or  Law,  which  the  whole  Christian  com- 
munity honored  by  strictest  obedience.  He  simply 
spoke  in  the  spirit  of  the  great  prophets,  saying  that 
such  privileges  did  not  tie  Jehovah's  hands  from 
punishing  stiffneckedness  in  His  people :  and  if  once 
before  by  the  destruction  of  a  temple,  why  not 
again,  if  needful  ? 

This  is  the  tone  of  his  defence,  which  dwells  upon 
the  changing  and  progressive  forms  under  which  the 
Covenant  relation  of  Jehovah  and  His  people  had 
been  conserved  through  many  dark  days  in  their 
past  history.  His  speech  is  a  philosophy  of  Israel's 
religious  history  in  the  prophetic  manner :  and  it  is 
most  significant  that  he  goes  back,  beyond  the  Law,  to 
the  Promise  given  to  Abraham,  making  it  the  basis  of 
all — as  in  Paul  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  later  on. 
Even  Moses  they  had  treated  badly  when  he  brought 
them  God's  message  of  deliverance ;  they  had  failed  to 
use  the  institutions  of  Mosaism  :  and  now  they  were  re- 
jecting the  greater  than  Moses,  Messiah,  in  whom 
the  "living  oracles"  of  God  were  yet  more  fully 
offered  to  them.  The  Temple  itself  could  not 
guarantee  God's  favor  and  presence,  as  Isaiah  lxvi. 
1  f.  warned  them.  If  they  were  resisting  the  higher 
light,  they  were  resisting  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  their 
fathers  had  so  often  done  :   and  that  cancelled  all 


32  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

privilege.  This  charge  he  pressed  home  in  Biblical 
language  of  great  force  and  vehemence,  asking  which 
of  the  prophets  had  not  been  persecuted  by  their 
fathers,  the  slayers  of  those  who  foretold  the  coming 
of  the  Righteous  One,  whose  death  he  now  laid  to 
their  own  charge.  As  a  climax,  he  retorted  the 
accusation  levelled  at  himself;  "men  who  received 
the  Law  as  heaven-given  ordinances,  and  kept  it 
not !  "  The  moral  to  be  drawn  from  past  and  pres- 
ent was  the  same — God's  Law  holy  and  spiritual, 
Israel  carnal  and  obstinate  in  its  trust  in  the  ex- 
ternals of  its  worship.  Doubtless  another  shaking 
of  the  forms  that  seemed  so  inviolable  was  at  hand.1 
Whether  Stephen  had  finished  or  not,  it  was  the 
last  sentence  they  would  suffer  him  to  speak.  Stung 
by  his  piercing  speech,  the  enraged  Sanhedrin,  treat- 
ing his  rapt  words,  "  Lo !  I  behold  the  heavens 
opened  and  the  Son  of  Man  3  standing  on  the  right 
hand  of  God,"  as  yet  more  blasphemy,  hurried  him 
forth  from  the  city  and  stoned  him.  The  proceed- 
ings, though  in  correct  Jewish  form  (cf.  Lev.  xxiv. 
14-16;  Deut.  xvii.  7),  were  tumultuary  in  character, 

1  McGiffert,  History  of  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic  Age  (85  ff.), 
j  ustly  observes  that  such  a  speech,  making  no  reference  to  the 
abrogation  of  the  Law  or  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  must  be 
based  on  an  authentic  report. 

2  This  title,  though  unique  outside  the  Gospels,  seems  to  be 
used  by  Stephen  with  allusion  to  Dan.  vii.  13,  even  as  Jesus  may 
have  used  it  in  Luke  xxii.  69,  so  incurring  the  charge  of  blas- 
phemy. In  any  case  it  is  a  watermark  of  a  Judseo-Christian  source 
behind  the  Acts  (cf.  James'  use  of  it  at  his  martyrdom,  as  reported 
by  Hegesippns),  and  should  check  hasty  inferences  from  the 
Gospels,  e.  g.,  that  it  was  a  title  used  by  Jesus  of  Himself  but  not 
by  the  early  Christians  of  Him, 


Scattering  and  Extension.  33 

seeing  that  the  death  penalty  was  reserved  to  the 
Roman  governor.  The  great  excitement  sufficiently 
explains  the  act :  and  there  may  have  been  special 
conditions  in  respect  to  the  procurator  of  the  day 
(Pilate),  which  made  it  easier  than  usual  to  get  their 
temerity  condoned.1 

The  day  had  been  a  momentous  one  for  the  future 
of  the  Church,  soon  to  be  no  longer  merely  "  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem  "  (viii.  1).  Upon  it  fell  fresh  sus- 
picion of  revolutionary  and  blasphemous  belief, 
through  the  boldly  aggressive  way  in  which  Stephen 
had,  for  the  first  time,  made  explicit  what  was  in- 
volved in  faith  in  Jesus  as  Messiah,  over  against  the 
existing  state  of  Jewish  religion.  They  seemed  now 
not  only  a  troublesome  sect,  but  an  heretical  one  of 
radical  tendencies.  Hence  persecution  followed,  so 
violent  as  to  produce  a  general  scattering  for  a  time 
from  Jerusalem,  particularly  of  the  Hellenistic  wing 
known  to  be  in  closest  connection  with  Stephen. 
And  Luke  notices  anticipatorily  that  the  young 
Saul,  who  had  been  present  at  and  sympathizing  in 
Stephen's  death,  was  foremost  in  these  repressive 
measures. 

(d)  Further  Extension  (Acts  viii.  4-xi.  18). 

The  sphere  affected  by  this  dispersion  was  prima- 
rily Palestine,  namely  Judsea  in  the  larger  or  Roman 
sense  (including  Galilee  and  Pereea,  see  i.  8,  ix.  31, 

1  Compare  the  parallel  case  of  James,  the  Lord's  brother,  who 
was  killed  probably  about  62  A.  D.     Pilate,  who  was  deposed  be- 
fore Easter,  36  A.  D.,  was  certainly  in  rather  a  weak  position  in 
the  last  years  of  his  office. 
C 


3-1  The  Apostolic  Age. 


cf.  Luke  vii.  17,  iv.  44)  and  Samaria.  The  first  part 
of  the  historian's  programme,  that  touching  the  for- 
tunes of  the  Gospel  in  Jerusalem  itself  (i.  8),  is  now 
at  an  end.  Hence  he  begins  forthwith  to  relate  the 
extension  of  the  Church  rendered  possible  by  the 
scattering,  which  must  have  reinforced  the  begin- 
nings already  existing  up  and  down  Judaea,  and 
even,  as  it  seems,  in  Damascus  (ix.  2). 

Luke  first  describes  the  evangelization  in  Samaria 
(perhaps  derived  from  Philip  himself,  cf.  xxi.  8). 
The  Samaritans,  though  a  people  of  mixed  blood, 
observed  the  Jewish  religion  in  an  undeveloped 
form,  and  hence  were  not  treated  as  complete  aliens. 
Philip's  work  then  did  not  involve  any  breach  of 
Jewish  law,  only  a  widening  of  sympathy  as  com- 
pared with  average  Jewish  prejudices.  The  Messi- 
anic hope  existed  among  them  in  some  form  (John  iv. 
25)  and  presented  a  point  of  contact  possibly  ren- 
dered the  more  effective  by  some  memory  of  Jesus 
as  having  passed  through  their  land  not  long  since. 
Works  of  power  further  prepared  the  way;  and 
Philip's  gospel  touching  the  "  Kingdom  of  God  and 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ "  found  a  ready  response, 
both  men  and  women  accepting  baptism  unto  Mes- 
siah's name.  The  news  created  some  stir  at  Jerusa- 
lem as  involving  a  new  departure  and  so  seeming  to 
require  formal  Apostolic  sanction.  To  this  end 
Peter  and  John  were  sent  to  the  scene ;  and  finding 
that  the  token  of  full  membership  in  the  New  Israel, 
the  manifested  Holy  Spirit  power,  was  as  yet  lack- 
ing to  these  converts,  prayed  that  this  Divine  sanc- 
tion might  seal  their  election  by  God  (cf.  x.  44-48), 


Simon  Magus,  and  the  Eunuch.  35 

Then,  as  they  laid  on  their  hands,  to  symbolize  the 
heavenly  act  of  blessing,  as  was  seemingly  usual  (cf. 
Ananias  in  the  case  of  Paul,  ix.  17,  also  xix.  6,  7), 
the  Samaritans  began  to  show  the  wonted  signs  of 
the  Spirit.1  This  excited  the  professional  ambition 
of  a  certain  Simon  who  prior  to  becoming  a  convert 
had  plied  the  calling  of  a  magus  or  magician  of  great 
repute  among  the  whole  Samaritan  race,  "giving 
out  that  himself  was  some  Great  One  "—even  "  the 
Power  of  God  that  goes  by  the  name  of  Great  "  (ij 
Auva/jLisroo  dtoo  y  xaXou/i&rj  MsydXr;,  v.  10).  Accordingly, 
in  the  unethical  spirit  characteristic  of  heathen  reli- 
gions, this  man  proposed  to  buy  from  the  Apostles  a 
share  in  such  a  showy  gift  as  he  conceived  them  to 
possess  in  their  own  right :  but  only  to  call  forth 
Peter's  indignant  rebuke  of  that  form  of  impiety 
which  has  since  been  called  "  Simony."  2  "  After 
delivering  their  full  testimony  and  speaking  the 
Word  of  the  Lord,"  the  Apostles  "returned  to  Jeru- 
salem, evangelizing  as  they  went  many  villages  of 
the  Samaritans." 

For  Philip,  however,  a  yet  further  piece  of  service 
in  the  enlargement  of  the  Church's  bounds  was  re- 
served.    His  baptism  of  the  Ethiopian  court  official 

'Why  this  had  not  occurred  already  at  their  baptism,  as  was 
obviously  the  case  (without  any  Apostolic  intervention)  with  the 
converts  at  Antioch  a  little  later  (xi.  20  ff.),  is  not  quite  clear. 
The  idea  seems  to  be  that  this  full  proof  that  the  Messianic  Salva- 
tion was  available  beyond  Israel  as  such,  was  associated  with  the 
ministry  of  those  to  whom  the  opening  of  the  Kingdom  was  first 
entrusted. 

2Simon's  subsequent  career,  according  to  tradition,  took  the 
form  of  rivalry  to  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  to  whom  he  had  once 
professed  adhesion. 


36  The  Apostolic  Age. 

or  Eunuch  represented  an  advance  on  the  case  of  a 
proselyte  like  Nicolaus :  for  the  latter  was  fully  in- 
corporated in  the  Jerusalem  community,  where  pros- 
elytes were  but  an  element  absorbed  in  the  central 
body ;  whereas  this  detached  proselyte  would  now 
stand  by  himself  as  a  distant  member  of  the  Ecclesia. 
The  distinction  may  be  little  to  us :  but  to  Jews  it  was 
otherwise.  For  the  conception  of  Jerusalem  as  the 
sacred  hearth  of  Israel,  to  which  even  Jews  beyond 
Palestine  belonged  in  idea — a  fact  witnessed  to  by 
their  visits  to  the  Feasts — was  still  a  reality  in  pious 
Jewish  minds.  Hence  by  the  baptism  of  this  man 
the  New  Ecclesia  took  another  step  toward  the  full 
ideality  or  spiritual  unity  which  it  attains  in  the 
Pauline  epistles.  But  the  step  was  not  as  important 
as  that  in  the  case  of  Cornelius,  to  which  accord- 
ingly far  greater  emphasis  is  given.  Two  points 
may  be  noted  in  passing :  (1)  the  use  of  Is.  liii.  as  a 
Messianic  passage  with  a  redemptive  bearing,  of 
which  the  gospels  contain  hints :  (2)  the  fact  that 
this  proselyte  took  baptism  into  the  Messianic  King- 
dom as  quite  a  natural  thing.  This  must  be  borne 
in  mind  in  interpreting  primitive  baptism. 

Philip's  parting  from  the  Eunuch  is  described  in  a 
way  that  seems  moulded  on  Old  Testament  models  : l 
and  Azotus  (Ashdod)  becomes  his  fresh  point  of  de- 
parture. Thence  he  made  a  tour  of  the  cities  in  that 
region  (the  Maritime  Plain)  until  he  reached  Csesa- 
rea,  the  political  capital,  where  we  find  him  residing 

lE.g.,  Ezekiel  xi.  24,  "Aud  the  spirit  lifted  me  up,  and 
brought  me  in  the  vision  by  the  spirit  of  God  into  Chaldsea";  cf. 
iii.  12,  14;  1  Kings  xviii.  12 ;  2  Kings  ii.  1,  16. 


Saul  the  Persecutor.  37 


some  twenty-five  years  later  (xxi.  8).  Among  traces 
of  his  labors  we  may  reckon  "  the  saints  "  at  Lydda 
and  "  the  disciples  "  at  Joppa  visited  by  Peter  on  a 
tour  of  inspection  (ix.  32  ff.). 

Meantime  Luke's  narrative  doubles  back  to  record 
the  most  momentous  event  in  the  history  of  Apos- 
tolic Christianity,  the  conversion  of  Saul  the  Phari- 
see, whom  it  left  in  the  full  fervor  of  his  persecuting 
zeal  at  Jerusalem  (viii.  3).  To  use  his  own  words  in 
Galatians,  (i.  24),  Saul  was  bent  on  "  making  havoc  " 
of  the  new  faith,  being  persuaded  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  do  many  things  hostile  to  the  name  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  Accordingly  he  shut  up  many  of  the 
Saints  in  prisons,  having  received  such  authority  as 
belonged  to  the  high-priestly  rulers  ;  he  tried  to 
compel  many  to  blaspheme  the  name  of  Jesus  by 
pains  and  penalties  inflicted  in  many  a  synagogue  ; 
and  even  voted  for  the  extreme  penalty  of  death 
where  this  was  feasible.  But  not  content  with  smit- 
ing the  heretics,  both  men  and  women,  in  their 
headquarters,  his  fury  impelled  him  to  pursue  them 
even  beyond  Judaea,  to  foreign  cities.  Among  these 
Damascus  would  naturally  be  chief.  And  so  to  Da- 
mascus Saul  hied,  with  full  commission  from  the 
high  priests  in  letters  to  their  "  brethren  "at  the  head 
of  the  synagogues  in  Damascus,  in  order  to  bring 
such  of  the  heretical  "way"  as  he  might  find  to 
Jerusalem  for  punishment  (xxvi.  9-12 ;  xxii.  5,  19 ; 
ix.  2).  Possibly  it  was  fugitives  from  Jerusalem  that 
Saul  had  mainly  in  view.  But  in  any  case  it  does 
not  seem  that  there  was  as  yet  any  organized  Chris- 
tian life  in  Damascus  (ix.  2;  xxii.  12). 


38  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Into  the  personal  details  of  Saul's  conversion  we 
shall  have  to  enter  subsequently  in  connection  with 
his  special  religious  history.  Here  we  have  only  to 
notice  its  sequel,  so  far  as  it  enters  at  once  into  the 
general  stream  of  the  Christian  Mission.  After  he 
had  responded  to  Ananias'  appeal  to  arise  and  by  ac- 
cepting baptism  wash  away  his  sins,  invoking  the 
name  of  Jesus  as  Messiah  (xxii.  16),  and  had  re- 
covered both  sight  and  strength  after  the  tremen- 
dous strain  through  which  he  had  just  passed,  the 
converted  Pharisee  retired  into  the  adjacent  sparsely 
inhabited  region  to  the  south-southeast,  called  vaguely 
Arabia.1  He  probably  wished  to  let  the  sensation  of 
his  conversion  subside  before  attempting  to  deliver 
his  witness:  but  we  may  also  surmise  a  personal 
necessity  created  by  his  new  experience  itself.  The 
Spirit  was  driving  Saul,  like  his  Master  before  him, 
into  solitude  ;  where  alone  and  undistracted  he  faced 
the  full  issues  involved  in  the  great  revelation  to  his 
soul  of  Jesus  as  Messiah  or  God's  true  Son  (Gal.  i. 
16).  He  withdrew  to  settle  his  future  with  his  God 
and  with  his  new  Lord.  This  done,  but  not  till  then,2 
he  could  return  to  Damascus  and  begin  a  ministry 
of  some  two  years  in  its  synagogues,  the  burden  of 

1  Damascus  was  at  this  time  or  soon  after  in  the  bands  of  the 
Arabian  King  whose  seat  was  at  Petra. 

'This  sequence  is  settled  by  the  "straightway  '*  of  Gal.  i.  16, 
to  which  Acts  ix.  20  must  bend.  Ramsay  observes  (p.  380)  that 
Luke  is  not  strong  on  the  temporal  relations  of  events  :  and  Paul's 
withdrawal  from  the  city  had  a  purely  personal  significance,  and 
so  may  well  have  escaped  the  knowledge  of  one  who  was  in- 
terested primarily  in  the  public  progress  of  the  Gospel.  Acts  ix. 
19,  20,  could  however  hardly  have  been  written  by  one  familiar 
with  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 


Saul  the   Christian.  39 

which  was  "  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  "  (Acts  ix.  20) 
— to  the  amazement  of  all  cognizant  of  his  past. 
His  argument  for  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  continued 
to  gain  fresh  force  and  cogency  for  Jewish  minds: 
so  much  so,  that  after  a  time  (some  two  years  or  so 
after  his  conversion)  his  life  came  into  imminent 
danger.  The  Jews,  as  he  tells  us  in  2  Cor.  xi.  32  f., 
obtained  the  cooperation  of  King  Aretas'  representa- 
tive and  so  were  able  to  secure  the  city  gates  against 
his  flight,  whether  by  day  or  night.  So  that  the 
bold  preacher  was  driven  to  the  humiliation  of  mak- 
ing his  escape  in  a  basket  lowered  from  the  city  wall. 
He  now  betook  himself  to  Jerusalem,  for  the  first 
time  as  a  Christian,  feeling  the  present  a  good  op- 
portunity of  sounding  Peter,1  the  recognized  author- 
ity on  his  Lord's  life  and  words.  Doubtless  his 
desire  for  conference  related  not  only  to  historical 
facts  of  which  Peter  was  the  leading  witness,  but 
also  to  matters  of  policy  touching  the  future  of  the 
Church.  Barnabas,  quite  possibly  an  old  associate, 
both  being  Hellenists,  seems  to  have  been  of  service 
to  Saul  in  the  end  he  had  in  view.  And  though 
most  of  the  Apostles  appear  to  have  been  absent,  a 
good  understanding  was  established  with  the  two 
chief  men  of  the  Church,  Peter  and  James  the 
Lord's  brother  (Gal.  i.  18  f.).  This  understanding 
was  as  an  anchor  that  bore  all  the  strain  and  stress 
of  parties  in  the  days  that  were  to  come,  and  so  was 
of  priceless  value  for  the  union  of  Jew  and  Gentile 

ISo  Gal.  i.  18,  which  gives  the  inner  side,  Paul's  own  purpose; 
whereas  Acts  (ix.  26  f.)  in  its  vague  use  of  the  classes  "disciples," 
and  "apostles,1'  gives  only  the  popular  account  of  the  visit. 


40  The  Apostolic  Age. 


in  one  Church  of  Christ.  Saul's  stay  was,  however, 
very  brief;  only  a  fortnight.  Accordingly  when  he 
departed  to  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia,  he  was 
on  his  own  testimony  (Gal.  i.  21  ff.)  "  unknown  by 
face  to  the  Churches  of  Judsea  that  were  in 
Christ."  l  All  they  knew  then  and  for  long  after  was 
the  common  report  that  their  quondam  persecutor 
"  was  now  preaching  as  good  news  the  faith  of  which 
he  had  once  made  havoc  "  :  and  this  was  enough  to 
cause  them  to  glorify  God  in  his  case.2 

Here  the  narrative  leaves  Saul  for  the  present, 
and  returns  to  the  general  march  of  events,  with  the 
words:  "So  the  Church  throughout  all  Judsea  and 
Galilee  3  and  Samaria  had  peace  (from  persecution) 
being  continuously  built  up;  and  walking  in  the 
fear  of  their  Lord  and  in  the  cheer  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  being  ever  multiplied." 

This  is  one  of  our  author's  summaries,  which  do 
not  aim  at  definite  harmony  with  the  facts  immedi- 
ately preceding  or  succeeding,  but  serve  rather  to 
give  atmosphere  to  the  epoch  in  question.     It  simply 

irrhis  shows  that  the  preseut  text  of  Acts  xxvi.  20,  "and 
throughout  all  the  country  of  Judsea  "  (which  is  not  even  Greek 
as  it  stands),  must  be  inaccurate. 

*Acts  (ix.  28  f.)  implies  a  rather  public  ministry  in  Jerusalem 
(among  the  Hellenists  in  particular),  leading  to  a  plot  on  Saul's 
life  only  anticipated  by  the  brethren's  hurrying  him  off  to 
Csesarea  and  thence  by  sea  to  Tarsus.  That  Saul  had  thoughts  of 
"witnessing"  in  Jerusalem  we  learn  also  from  xxii.  17  f.  ;  and 
some  abortive  attempt  is  compatible  even  with  Gal.  i.  19  ff. 

3  The  first  hint  that  Galilee  too  was  a  home  of  Christians.  Note 
also  the  singular,  the  Church.  It  is  no  longer  that  of  Jerusalem 
merely,  and  yet  it  has  the  unity  attaching  to  Jewish  soil,  the 
sphere  of  the  ancient  Ecclesia  whose  proper  home  was  the  whole 
land  of  Israel. 


The   Case  of  Cornelius.  41 

marks  progress.  Within  the  era,  then,  of  steady 
growth  throughout  Palestine,  there  occurred  a  series 
of  events  during  one  of  Peter's  tours  of  inspection 
among  the  new  groups  of  disciples,  the  Lord's 
special  "  Saints "  or  consecrated  ones,1  that  had 
recently  arisen  here  and  there  through  ministry  such 
as  that  of  Philip.  The  first  of  the  series,  the  cases  of 
./Eneas  in  Lydda  and  Dorcas  in  Joppa,  simply  illus- 
trate the  presence  and  power  of  God  accompanying 
Peter  as  leading  agent  in  the  building  up  of  the 
New  Commonweal  in  Palestine.  The  next  case, 
that  of  Cornelius,  is  big  with  significance  for  the 
future,  and  represents  a  step  forward  in  principle, 
even  as  the  Samaritan  Mission  had  meant  a  former 
extension  in  the  conception  of  the  New  Ecclenia. 
And  once  more  its  larger  scope  is  recognized  and 
ratified  by  men  specially  entrusted  with  "  the  keys 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  the  right  to  say  what 
classes  of  men  satisfy  the  condition  of  genuine 
Messianic  faith.2  Accordingly  the  story  of  Cor- 
nelius and  his  friends  merits  careful  consideration.3 

Peter  was  still  lingering  at  Joppa,  lodging  with 
one  Simon,  a  tanner ;  the  Galilean  fisherman  was 
not  punctilious  as  to  Rabbinic  views  of  clean  and 
unclean  trades.     There  he  received  the  momentous 

1  First  used  in  ix.  13.  "  Members  of  the  Holy  Ecdesia  of  Israel 
were  themselves  holy  by  the  mere  fact  of  membership ;  and  the 
prerogative  phrase  is  here  boldly  transferred  to  the  Christians.  .  . 
Its  use  is  the  correlative  of  the  term  Ecdesia  "  (Hort  Chris.  Ecd.  56). 

2  Matt.  xvi.  17-19,  cf.  xviii.  18,  as  also  Lnke  xi.  52,  Rev.  iii.  7, 
passages  which  all  hark  back  to  the  idea  in  Isaiah  xxii.  21,  22. 

3  The  repeated  references  to  it  (x.  1  ff.,  xi.  1  ff.,  xv.  7  ff.),  reveal 
its  importance. 


42  The  Aiiostolic  Age. 

request  of  Cornelius,  a  centurion  of  the  Italic r 
cohort  forming  part  of  the  permanent  garrison  of 
Csesarea,  where  the  Roman  procurator  resided  in  the 
palace  built  by  Herod  the  Great  (who  had  made  the 
semi-Greek  seaport  what  it  then  was).  Cornelius, 
though  a  devout  worshipper  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
rich  in  prayers  and  alms,  the  distinctive  ideal  of  cur- 
rent Jewish  piety,  was  yet  not  a  full  proselyte.  He 
had  not,  by  the  rite  which  marked  off  Israel  as  a 
distinct  polity  among  the  nations,  become  virtually 
a  naturalized  Jew.  Hence  his  petition  involved  a 
great  issue,  that  of  the  non-national  and  purely 
spiritual  basis  of  Messiah's  new  community  of  the 
righteous.  And  it  seemed  unlikely  that  Peter 
would  see  his  way  to  ignore  "  the  middle  wall  of 
partition  "  which  severed  Jew  and  Gentile  as  regards 
anything  like  close  social  intercourse.  But  the 
mind  of  Peter,  who  was  never  inclined  to  magnify 
matters  of  form,  had  already  been  prepared  by  a 
vision  which  must  have  brought  up  older  memories 
of  his  Master's  teaching  touching  defilement  (cf. 
Mark  vii.  14  ff.).  In  figurative  fashion  it  taught  him 
the  relative  nature  of  the  distinction  between 
"  clean  "  and  "  unclean  "  in  a  religious  sense,  as  ap- 
plied to  what  comes  by  the  accident  of  birth;  seeing 
that  God,  the  Creator,  might  will  to  cancel  the  line 
hitherto  observed  in  deference  to  His  prior  ordinance, 

1  The  existence  iu  Judsea  of  a  cohort  of  Roman  citizens  from 
Italy  is  out  of  keeping  with  the  general  rule  as  to  the  use  of 
auxiliaries,  such  as  the  Samaritan  cohort  in  xxvii.  1.  But  an  in- 
scription in  Pannonia,  dating  from  69  A.  D.,  points  to  the  existence 
of  such  a  band  in  Syria,  and  so  removes  ajjnor/improbability  : 
see  Ramsay  "  Was  Christ  bom  at  Bethlehrm  ?"  pp.  260  ff. 


Peter  in   Cornelius'  House.  43 


and  sanctify  to  His  own  ends  any  of  the  creatures  of 
His  hand. 

Accordingly,  when  the  men  arrived,  Peter  was 
prepared  by  the  prompting  of  the  Spirit  to  cast  aside 
all  scruples  and  in  sheer  obedience  to  God  accompany 
those  who  alleged  a  direct  divine  mandate  in  sup- 
port of  their  unwonted  boldness.  Feeling  the 
importance  of  the  occasion,  Peter  took  with  him 
certain  of  the  Joppa  Jewish  Christians,  some  six 
at  least  (xi.  12),  as  witnesses  of  what  might 
occur.  He  found  Cornelius  and  a  number  of 
his  closest  friends  assembled,  explained  that  God 
had  overruled  his  scruples  as  to  such  intimate  inter- 
course with  foreigners,1  and  then  enquired  the 
reason  of  his  being  summoned.  Cornelius  recounts, 
with  soldierly  brevity  and  emphasis  on  prompt 
obedience,  his  vision  during  the  afternoon  hour  of 
prayer  :  and  then  Peter  confesses  the  new  light  that 
has  just  fallen  on  the  ways  of  Israel's  God,  as  a  God 
who  "  respecteth  not  persons,"  in  that  He  now  shows 
His  acceptance  of  men  who  in  His  fear  work  right- 
eousness (cf.  v.  2),  even  though  they  stop  short  of 
circumcision. 

The  speech  which  follows  is  important  as  a  sample 

1  It  is  to  be  noted  that  only  the  traditional,  not  the  written 
law,  was  in  question  ;  and  the  former  lay  less  heavily  on  a  Gali- 
lean than  on  a  Judsean.  Josephus,  Ant.  xx.  2,  4,  tells  how  Ana- 
nias, the  Jewish  merchant  who  won  Izates  of  Adiabene  to  Judaism, 
dissuaded  him  from  circumcision  as  inexpedient  in  his  case,  say- 
ing "  that  he  might  worship  God  without,  even  though  he  did 
resolve  to  follow  the  Jewish  law  entirely,  which  worship  of  God 
was  of  a  superior  nature  to  circumcision."  On  the  other  hand  a 
Galilean  Rabbi,  Eleazar,took  the  other  line. 


44  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  primitive  preaching  in  the  historic  manner,  on 
lines  which  remind  us  of  the  Petrine  Gospel  of  Mark. 
God  hath  sent  His  message  to  the  sons  of  Israel,  de- 
claring glad  peace  through  Jesus  Christ ;  but  Christ 
and  His  Lordship  are  for  all.  The  broad  fact  of  the 
ministry  throughout  the  whole  of  Judaea  (Jewish 
territory),  following  on  the  baptism  preached  by 
John,  is  familiar;  how  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
anointed  of  God  with  Holy  Spirit  power,  so  that  He 
went  about  doing  beneficent  deeds  and  healing  all  in 
the  thraldom  of  the  devil;  for  God  was  with  Him. 
But  the  Jews  put  Him  to  death  as  an  accursed  one, 
on  a  tree  (cf.  Deut.  xxi.  22  f. ;  Gal.  iii.  16).  Him 
God  raised  up  on  the  third  day,  and  gave  Him  to  be 
manifested,  not  indeed  to  all  the  Jewish  people,  but 
to  witnesses,  even  to  those  afore  chosen  by  God. 
Their  charge  was  to  preach  to  the  Jewish  people,  and 
to  testify  that  He  it  is  who  hath  been  designated  by 
God  as  Judge  of  living  and  dead.  To  Him  all  the 
prophets  witness,  that  through  His  name  every  one 
that  believeth  receiveth  thereby  forgiveness  of  sins. 

At  this  critical  point,  at  which  the  universality  of 
salvation  through  faith  in  Messiah  is  alluded  to  after 
the  fashion  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  the  token  of  its 
actual  fulfilment  appeared  in  the  wonted  signs  of  the 
Holy  Spirit's  presence.  The  astonishment  of  the 
Jews  who  had  come  with  Peter  was  boundless.  But 
he,  already  better  prepared  for  something  of  the  sort, 
ordered  that  baptism,  the  formal  or  human  seal  of 
membership  in  the  Messianic  community,  should  be 
added  where  the  Divine  had  shown  the  way.  Nay 
more,  in  the  fulness  of  the  new  sense  of  oneness — 


The  Problem  of  the   Gentiles.  45 

the  middle  wall  of  partition  broken  down— he  yielded 
to  the  entreaty  that  he  would  stay  as  their  guest  for 
a  season. 

The  news  spread,  causing  a  profound  sensation 
throughout  Judaea.  And  on  his  return  to  Jerusalem, 
Peter  was  challenged  for  having  accepted  Gentile 
hospitality.  His  defence  was  simple  and  to  the 
point.  He  told  the  story  of  his  strange  experiences 
and  appealed  to  the  promised  Spirit-baptism,  the  dis- 
tinctive mark  of  the  New  Israel.  "  If  then,"  he  ar- 
gued, "  God  has  given  to  them  the  like  boon  as  also 
to  us,  on  belief  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was 
I,  that  I  should  avail  to  hinder  God  ?  "  To  this  there 
was  no  answer.  Divine  facts  must  be  accepted  and 
God  glorified  in  His  sovereignty  in  granting  even 
to  Gentiles  that  change  of  heart  which  admitted  to 
the  true  life.  So  objection  was  silenced.  But  in  the 
light  of  subsequent  events,  we  cannot  infer  that  all 
accepted  the  admission  of  the  uncircumcised,  as  a 
class,  into  the  New  Israel.  Many,  possibly  the  ma- 
jority, still  regarded  the  case  in  question  as  in  some 
way  exceptional ; x  assuming  perhaps  that  circumci- 
sion would  here  follow,  instead  of  preceding,  Mes- 
sianic faith,2  and  certainly  that  this  new  class  of  con- 
verts would  be  a  small  minority  hanging  upon  the 
skirts  of  genuine  Israel  and  never  attaining  such 

1  Possibly  our  author  did  not  quite  realize  the  exact  state  of 
their  miud,  or  he  would  not  have  put  their  sentiment  of  acquies- 
ence  so  broadly  as  in  xi.  18. 

1  This  is  suggested  by  the  attitude  of  superiority  on  the  part  of 
Jewish  believers  implied  in  Gal.  ii.  12,  13.  It  is  also  the  position 
taken  up  by  the  Judaizers  whom  Paul  controverts  in  Galatians 
(e.  g.,  iii.  3). 


46  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

numbers  as  to  constitute  a  Messianic  ecclesia  in  their 
own  right. 

These  latent  reservations  come  to  light  through 
the  logic  of  events,  the  logic  which  counted  most 
with  the  bulk  of  these  primitive  Christians.  And 
the  chief  event  of  the  kind  in  question  was  the  foun- 
dation of  a  considerable  ecclesia,  no  longer  on  Jew- 
ish soil,  but  in  the  great  city  of  Antioch,  with  its 
mixed  population  and  its  cosmopolitan  ideals  in  re- 
ligion, flere  obviously  the  old  problem  was  bound 
to  recur  under  new  conditions ;  since  there  the  pre- 
ponderance of  the  Jewish  element  among  believers 
no  longer  went  without  saying.  Once  Judaism  be- 
gan to  be  swamped,  reaction  arose. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   FIELD   BROADENS. 

(a)  Foundation  of  the  Antiochene  Church. 

HE  connection  of  the  fresh  paragraph  in 
Acts,  on  the  beginning  of  Antiochene 
Christianity,  with  what  precedes  is  logical 
rather  than  chronological.  "Now  they 
who  were  scattered  by  the  tribulation  oc- 
casioned by  Stephen  reached  in  due  course  as  far  as 
Phoenicia  and  Cyprus  and  Antioch,  speaking  (as  a 
class)  the  word  to  none  save  Jews  only.  But  there 
were  certain  of  them,  men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene  (and  so 
wider  in  their  sympathies),  who,  when  they  came  to 
Antioch,  spoke  also  to  the  Greeks  "  ' — naturally  those 
already  to  some  degree  in  touch  with  the  synagogue. 
Thus  there  is  continuity  of  thought  with  xi.  18, 
where  the  extension  to  the  Gentiles  is  already  pres- 
ent in  germ. 

■The  antithesis  of  the  two  sentences  (xi.  19,  20)  requires  noth- 
ing less  than  this.  The  balance  of  MS.  authority  is  in  favor  of 
"Hellenists,"  i.  e.,  Jews  of  Hellenic  or  Greek  culture.  But  this 
may  easily  be  due  to  assimilation  of  the  first  case  in  Acts  in 
which  "Hellenes"  occurs,  to  "Hellenists,"  which  has  already 
occurred  twice  in  somewhat  similar  contexts  (vii.  ix.  29).  Intrin- 
sic probability  makes  decidedly  for  the  view  taken  in  the  text  ; 
as  does  also  the  use  of  "  the  Lord  Jesus,"  rather  than  "  the  Christ 
Jesus"  (see  v.  42,  where  Jews  are  concerned).  "Hebrews  "  and 
"Hellenists"  may  be  contrasted  (vi.  1);  not  "Jews"  and  "Hel- 
lenists." 

47 


48  The  Apostolic  Age. 

The  reception  given  to  the  message  touching  Jesus 
as  Lord  was  most  hearty,  and  many  "  turned  unto  the 
Lord."  When  the  news  reached  Jerusalem,  the  oc- 
casion was  felt  to  merit  careful  consideration :  and 
Barnabas,  himself  a  Cypriot  and  not  one  of  the 
Twelve,1  was  despatched  to  examine  this  momentous 
extension  of  the  Messianic  community.  He  was 
soon  satisfied  that  it  was  the  veritable  "  grace  of 
God  "  that  was  at  work,  and  joyfully  encouraged  the 
converts  one  and  all  to  adhere  firmly  to  their  heart's 
intent,  in  reliance  on  the  Lord.  This  attitude,  we 
learn,  was  quite  characteristic  of  his  wonted  good- 
ness of  heart  and  inspired  insight  of  faith.  Hence 
when  the  work  continued  to  spread,  Barnabas,  feel- 
ing the  need  of  an  associate  of  high  gifts,  bethought 
himself  of  his  friend  Saul,  whose  recent  mission 
work  must  have  reached  his  ears,  and  went  to  Tar- 
sus in  quest  of  him.  Having  found  him  out 
somewhere  in  those  regions,  he  returned  with  him ; 
and  together  for  a  whole  year  they  enjoyed  the 
Church's  hospitality,2  and  were  enabled  to  instruct  a 
considerable  multitude.  And  then  Luke  adds  a  re- 
mark indicative  of  the  new  bases  of  union  recog- 
nizable even  to  outsiders,  in  contrast  to  the  way  in 
which  a  Jewish  sect  might  be  regarded.  "  It  was  in 
Antioch  that  the  disciples  primarily  got  the  name  of 

1  This  is  noteworthy  (in  contrast  to  viii.  14),  both  as  showing 
the  strength  of  the  feeling  that  Palestine  was  the  strict  sphere  of 
the  New  Israel  and  so  of  the  Apostles,  and  as  hinting  that  the  lo- 
cal self-direction  of  the  Jewish  communities  abroad,  subject  only 
to  a  certaiu  loyalty  to  the  Jerusalem  authorities,  was  taken  as 
holding  also  for  the  New  Israel. 

2  The  probable  sense  of  Tova/d^vat  here,  as  in  Matt.  xxv.  36. 


Antioch  and  Jerusalem.  49 


Christians  " — a  word  formed  on  the  analogy  of  party 
names  used  by  Asiatic  Greeks.  Gentile  observers 
would  take  "Christ"  to  be  a  proper  name,  just  as 
later  in  Rome  it  was  thought  that  a  certain 
"Chrestus"  was  fomenting  trouble  in  the  Jewish 
quarter.  Heuce  the  name  marks  the  first  clear  differ- 
entiation of  Christians  from  the  synagogue :  but 
being  at  first  a  nickname,  meaning  "  the  partisans  of 
Christ "  (cf.  xxvi.  28,  a  rather  jesting  remark),  it  seems 
to  have  been  adopted  only  gradually  by  Gentile  be- 
lievers themselves,  being  first  found  in  use  about  63 
A.  D.1 

It  is  probable  that  the  bulk  of  Jewish  Christians 
in  Antioch  mixed  freely  with  their  Gentile  brethren, 
even  to  the  extent  of  eating  together;  since  other- 
wise Peter  would  hardly  have  done  so  on  his  first 
coming  to  Antioch  some  years  later.  For  after  all, 
the  restriction  was  only  a  piece  of  Scribism,  the  in- 
fluence of  which  among  Jews  long  resident  in  a 
great  Gentile  city  must  have  been  very  secondary. 
Hence  we  may  imagine  the  Antiochene  ecclesia  as 
one  in  which  Jewish  exclusiveness  had  hardly  any 
footing,  apart  from  temporary  pressure  from  Jeru- 
salem (as  in  Gal.  ii.  12,  13).  It  was  a  community 
amid  which  Paul  could  move  quite  at  his  ease,  and 
was  destined  ere  long  to  prove  itself  the  mother 
ecclesia  of  Gentile  Christianity,  even  as  Jerusalem 
had  been  of  Palestinian  Christianity.  Thus  its 
foundation,  rather  than  the  admission  of  Cornelius, 
must  be  held  to  mark  the  true  beginning  of  the 
great  Gentile  Mission  as  known  to  us  (in  contrast 
*1  Peter  iv.  16,  cf.,  Didache,  xii.  4  ;  Ignatius, passim. 
D 


50  The  Apostolic  Age. 

to  what  we  may  infer  touching  Saul's  earlier  labors, 
Gal.  i.  21  ff.)  ;  and  this  was  in  turn  the  prelude  to 
the  Church's  gradual  realization  of  its  universal 
calling.  Once  more  it  was  the  logic  of  facts  bearing 
the  divine  impress,  and  not  a  deliberately  planned 
aggression  on  the  Gentile  world,  that  led  the  way 
to  the  larger  future  and  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
Judseo-Christian  Church,  as  it  had  hitherto  been,  to 
the  counsels  of  God  touching  the  fulness  of  the 
Gentiles  as  included  in  Messiah's  heritage. 

But  though  differing  from  the  first  in  respect  to 
the  primarily  Jewish  and  Gentile  character  attach- 
ing to  them  respectively,  the  ecclesice  of  Jerusalem 
and  Antioch  were  at  the  same  time  on  terms  of 
sisterly  charity.  This  found  expression  in  very 
practical  form  on  the  occasion  of  a  famine,  which 
fell  on  Judeean  Christians  the  more  heavily  that 
among  them  "  the  poor  saints  "  seem  to  have  been  in 
a  large  majority.  The  generosity  of  the  Antiochene 
Christians  was  prepared  beforehand,  through  the 
visit  of  certain  "  prophets  "  or  highly  gifted  preach- 
ers belonging  to  the  Mother  Church.  Of  these,  one, 
Agabus  by  name,  rose  amid  the  assembled  brethren1 
and  indicated  through  the  Spirit  the  approach  of 

1  In  Codex  Bezse,  supported  by  Augustine,  Serm.  dom.  2,  there  is 
an  addition  to  v.  27:  "And  there  was  much  exultation.  Now 
when  we  were  assembled  together."  On  this  Blass  exclaims,  "  Lo, 
an  obvious  proof  that  our  author  was  an  Antiochene. "  But  neither 
this  nor  an  alternative  theory,  that  we  find  here  the  first  cropping 
out  of  the  "we"  pieces  in  the  Acts,  is  so  likely  as  the  view  that 
here  we  have  betrayed  to  us  the  secret  that  the  peculiar  text  un- 
derlying our  Codex  Bezse  had  its  birth  in  Antioch. 


HerocVs  Persecution.  51 

great  famine  over  the  whole  world  (as  our  author 
understood  his  information1),  but  specially  in  the 
Holy  Land.  Then  the  disciples,  according  to  their 
several  ability,  prepared  each  severally  to  send  help 
to  the  brethren  living  in  Judsea,  so  general  was  the 
fraternal  spirit  in  the  breasts  of  these  Antiochene 
Christians.  When  the  contributions  were  actually 
sent,  they  were  conveyed  by  Barnabas  and  Saul,  the 
leaders  in  Antioch,  to  the  hands  of  "  the  Elders," 
apparently  of  the  Judaean  churches  as  a  whole, 
though  Jerusalem  is  no  doubt  meant  in  particular. 
The  fact  that  Elders  are  here  mentioned  for  the  first 
time  without  any  preface  or  explanation,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  origin  of  the  Seven  in  Chapter  vi.,  must 
imply  that  they  corresponded  in  the  New  Israel  to 
the  class  so  named  in  the  Old,  and  were  assumed  to 
have  arisen  as  a  matter  of  course  at  a  prior  stage  in 
the  Church's  development. 

But  ere  the  envoys  fulfilled  this  helpful  ministry, 
probably  before  they  had  even  started  on  it,  persecu- 
tion once  more  overtook  the  Judsean  Church,  this 
time  at  the  hands  of  the  native  prince,  Herod 
Agrippa,  under  whom  the  whole  of  Palestine  was 
then  for  a  short  period  united  (41-44  A.  D.).  Herod 
struck  at  the  leaders,  beheading  James  the  son  of 
Zebedee  and  imprisoning  Peter,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Jews,  about  Passover,  44  A.  D.  Thus  Chapter 
xii.  comes  in  parenthetically  and  must  not  be  used 
to  fix  the  chronology  of  the  events  connected  with 

Ramsay  justifies  the  phrase  as  accurate,  provided  we  under- 
stand that  famine  did  not  befall  all  parts  of  the  world  at  once 
(p.  48  f.).     Possibly  t^v  yyv  may  have  been  meant  by  his  source. 


52  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

the  Famine,  which  reached  its  height  probably  about 
46-47  A.  D. 

Strikingly  vivid  and  fresh  as  is  the  narrative  of 
Peter's  deliverance,  its  details  concern  us  mainly  as 
casting  light  on  the  inner  life  of  the  Jerusalem 
Christians.  Thus  we  find  that  the  house  of  Mary, 
the  mother  of  John  Mark,  was  a  chief  place  of  re- 
sort for  the  brethren — a  hint  of  the  household  char- 
acter which  their  meetings  for  worship  and  fellow- 
ship still  retained.  Again  the  words  of  Peter,  "  Tell 
this  news  to  James  and  to  the  brethren,"  set  before 
us  the  same  conditions  that  meet  us  in  Paul's  refer- 
ences to  the  Church  of  Jerusalem.  Peter  himself 
then  vanishes  from  the  public  eye  for  the  time, 
withdrawing  "  to  a  different  place  "  to  escape 
Herod's  wrath.  This  indeed  was  fierce,  but  it  was 
of  short  duration,  for  he  soon  after  died  at  Csesarea 
of  a  loathsome  disease,  a  divine  judgment,  as  it  was 
generally  believed,  upon  his  impious  pride  in  the 
popular  adulation  which  greeted  his  oration  to  a 
Tyrian  and  Sidonian  deputation,  waiting  on  him 
touching  a  point  in  dispute.  On  the  other  hand  the 
word  of  the  Lord  was  ever  on  the  increase.  And 
ere  long  the  ties  of  fellowship  between  the  young 
Antiochene  Church  and  the  Mother  Church  in  Judaea 
were  drawn  closer  by  aid  rendered  in  time  of  sore 
need.  This  probably  occurred  about  46-47  A.  D., 
when  the  famine  became  really  serious. 

(b)   Paul  and  the  Fresh  Missionary  Impulse. 

We  now  come  upon  the  central  difficulty  of  Pauline 
Chronology.      For  it  is  to  the  visit  just  alluded  to 


PauVs  Second   Visit  to  Jerusalem.  53 


that  Professor  Ramsay  refers  what  Paul,  in  Galatians 
ii.  1-10,  describes  as  his  second  visit  to  Jerusalem. 
But  the  chronological  difficulty  is  only  a  symbol  of 
another  more  vital  than  itself,  namely  that  touching 
the  development  of  the  relations  between  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christians,  which  in  turn  involved  the 
essential  idea  of  Christianity.  Was  the  Christian 
Church  at  bottom  a  national  or  a  universal  institu- 
tion ?  Had  man  a  standing  in  it  simply  as  man,  or 
only  as  tolerated  or  even  welcomed  guest  of  the 
Jew  ?  Had  Moses  any  blessings  to  confer  on  man 
which  were  not  ipso  facto  included  in  the  final  bless- 
ing in  Jesus  the  Christ?  Such  were  the  issues. 
They  were  not  all  realized  at  once.  The  existing 
institution  of  proselytism,  with  its  various  grades, 
tended  to  keep  some  of  them  in  the  background  for 
longer  than  we  are  apt  to  imagine,  especially  on 
what  we  may  call  the  "  Foreign  Mission-Field," 
where  Saul  and  others  were  at  work  on  the  basis  of 
a  "  Colonial "  mission  among  the  synagogues  of  the 
Dispersion.  Thus  it  was  only  gradually  that  the 
controversy  in  its  acute  form  came  into  being — and 
the  stages  of  its  growth  must  be  closely  watched. 

In  this  connection  the  stage  represented  by  Gal. 
ii.  is  of  decisive  interest.  Paul's  visit  is  generally 
assumed  to  correspond  to  Acts  xv. :  but  that  is  the 
third,  and  not  the  second,  visit  recorded  in  Acts. 
Can  we  suppose  that  what  appears  in  Galatians  as 
the  second  visit  was  not  meant  by  Paul  to  be  taken 
as  absolutely  such,  but  that  it  was  only  the  second 
visit  for  a  specific  object,  namely  to  consult  with  the 
leading  Apostles?     Hardly,  and  for  two  reasons.    It 


54  The  Apostolic  Age. 

seems  excluded  first  by  the  nature  of  the  insinua- 
tions which  he  is  refuting ;  and  next,  and  that  more 
decisively,  by  the  way  in  which  he  expresses  himself. 
To  begin  with,  he  has  to  disprove  the  insinuation 
that,  prior  to  his  first  preaching  to  the  Galatians,  lie 
had  been  dependent  upon  the  original  Apostles  for 
his  Apostolic  commission  in  some  degree  at  least. 
Hence,  deliberately  to  omit  reference  to  any  visit 
that  might  be  cited  by  the  other  side,  even  though 
that  visit  had  ostensibly  quite  another  object,  would 
seriously  weaken  the  finality  of  his  reply.  Policy 
would  lead  him  to  dismiss  this  visit  as  irrelevant  by 
means  of  some  passing  allusion.  But  instead  of 
this  he  seems  to  give  an  exhaustive  summary  of  his 
movements  as  lying  outside  Judaea  altogether  be- 
tween the  visits  of  Gal.  i.  18  and  ii.  1.  For  after 
the  former,  he  says,  "  next  I  came  into  the  regions  of 
Syria  and  Cilicia  ;  but  I  remained  unknown  by  face  ' 
to  the  churches  of  Judsea  that  are  in  Christ,  only 
they  were  in  possession  of  the  report  that  'our 
quondam  persecutor  is  now  preaching  the  faith  of 
which  once  he  used  to  make  havoc.'  And  their  at- 
titude was  that  of  glorifying  God  in  my  case."  Then, 
without  a  hint  that  he  had  ever  left  the  regions  just 
named,  he  continues:  "Next,  after  an  interval  of 
fourteen  years  I  again  went  up  to  Jerusalem  along 
with  Barnabas,  taking  with  us  also  Titus  :  and  it  was 
in  pursuance  of  a  revelation  that  I  went  up."  Such 
is  Paul's  account,  to  which  all  else  must  be  accom- 
modated.    We  may  assume  then,  provisionally  at 

1  Imagine  him  peuning  this  sentence  of  a  period  within  which 
fell  his  relief-visit  to  Judsea ! 


A  Revelation  its   Occasion.  55 


least,  that  Acts  xv.  cannot  satisfy  these  require- 
ments,1 even  apart  from  striking  contrasts  in  the  de- 
tails of  the  two  visits  when  thoughtfully  compared. 
This  being  so,  it  is  natural  to  fall  back  on  the 
second  visit  of  Acts,  that  occasioned  by  the  famine. 
But  why  should  Paul  not  mention  this,  the  primary 
ostensible  object?  Grant  that  to  himself  it  had,  as 
Ramsay  supposes,  an  inner  and  personal  significance 
arising  out  of  a  revelation  that  the  moment  had 
come  for  reaching  a  clear  understanding  between  the 
Jewish  and  Gentile  Missions  in  the  persons  of  their 
leading  spirits.  Yet  surely  it  would  have  strength- 
ened Paul's  case  and  rendered  further  reasons  almost 
superfluous  as  against  the  Judaizers  in  Galatia,  had 
he  simply  referred  to  this  second  visit  as  having  the 
practical  object  of  fraternal  aid.  Instead  of  this,  he 
ignores  all  reasons  save  that  afforded  by  some  divine 
revelation  to  himself.  Its  inner  purport  can  have 
been  no  other  than  the  "  mystery  "  (Eph.  iii.  4  ff.) 
of  the  unity  of  Jew  and  Gentile  in  Christ,  which 
made  the  Gentiles  "  fellow  heirs  and  fellow  members 
of  one  body  (the  Ecclesia),  and  fellow  partakers  of 
the  promise  in  Christ  Jesus  through  the  Gospel." 
This  is  how  he  describes  retrospectively,  at  a  later 
date,  his  special  message  which  he  was  to  preach  to 
the  Gentiles,  even  "the  untrackable  riches  of  the 

1  Why  should  Paul  omit  explicit  reference  to  the  Judaistic  chal- 
lenge in  Antioch  (Acts  xv.  1  f.),  if  this  had  already  occurred? 
It  would  have  made  his  after  success  at  Jerusalem  all  the  more 
impressive.  Again  Paul  was  at  least  primarily  concerned  to 
prove  the  independence  of  his  Gospel  as  first  preached  in  Galatia  ; 
while  this  third  visit  did  not  occur  until  after  that  first  preach- 
ing (t.  e.,  on  the  "  South  Galatian  Theory  "  ;  Bee  p.  71  AT.). 


56  The  Apostolic  Age. 


Christ,"  and  through  which  he  was  to  "  illumine  "  the 
darkness  which  had  hitherto  enveloped  God's  gra- 
cious plans  for  man.  But  at  what  particular  point  in 
his  career  did  the  great  Apostle  first  realize  such  a 
revelation  in  overmastering  power  and  impressiveness? 
For  answer  we  may  point  to  the  occasion  alluded  to 
with  such  awe  and  mystery  in  2  Cor.  xii.  2-5,  and 
recall  the  fact  that  he  dates  this  experience  to  a 
period  even  earlier  than  that  which  we  have  already 
reached,  namely  to  about  43  A.  D. l  Nor  need  we 
be  deterred  by  his  description  of  what  he  then  heard 
in  ecstasy,  as  "  unspeakable  words  which  it  is  not 
allowed  to  man  to  utter."  For  the  transcendent 
nature  of  the  message  relates  to  its  form,  not  to  its 
content.  To  suppose  that  Paul  would  "glory "  in 
the  unintelligible  is  to  ignore  his  own  clear  words  to 
the  contrary  effect  (e.  g.,  1  Cor.  xiv.  1-22).  A  great 
truth  broke  on  him  in  new  and  full  splendor  through 
these  unspeakable  experiences,  and  henceforth  be- 
came part  of  his  special  stewardship  of  God's  mys- 
teries. And  so  this  seemingly  isolated  allusion  falls 
into  the  whole  plan  of  his  life-work  and  helps  to 
justify  his  later  language  to  the  Ephesians.  The 
significance  of  this  combination  has  not,  to  my 
knowledge,  hitherto  been  recognized. 2     If,  however, 

*2  Cor.  was  written  about.  55-56  A.  D.,  and  he  speaks  in  it  of 
this  experience  as  having  come  to  him  "  fourteen  years  before." 
This  by  ancient  reckoning  works  out  as  42-43. 

2 Ramsay's  attempt  to  connect  the  "revelation"  of  Gal.  ii.  2 
with  Acts  xxii.  17  seems  to  me  rather  paradoxical.  On  the  otlier 
hand  it  falls  in  excellently  with  Weizsacker's  remark,  that  "  with 
all  his  independence  in  action,  he  never  lost  sight  of  the  hope  of 
joining  in  the  erection  of  one  great  Catholic  Church  of  Christ  " 
{The  Apostolic  Age,  i.  178). 


Its  Bate  and  Nature.  57 

it  holds,  then  it  casts  a  flood  of  light  on  Gal.  ii.  2. 
For  after  so  glorious  a  vision  of  God's  mighty  coun- 
sels, new  missionary  projects  would  crowd  upon  his 
mind ;  and  he  would  naturally  be  eager  to  lay  his 
more  expanded  Gospel  before  the  leaders  of  the 
mother  Ecclesia,  upon  whose  attitude  its  practica- 
bility so  largely  depended,  alike  as  regards  consoli- 
dation of  past  results  and  the  securing  of  a  larger 
future. 

But  here  another  question  appears  on  the  horizon. 
Is  a  visit  so  motived  fully  compatible  with  even  the 
so-called  second  visit  to  Jerusalem,  as  related  in  Acts 
xi.  27-30  ?  The  harmony  would  be  at  best  a  strained 
one,  owing  not  only  to  the  very  different  impressions 
conveyed  by  Acts  and  Gal.  ii.,  but  also  to  chrono- 
logical reasons.  The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians was  written  not  later  than  autumn  56.  The 
fourteenth  year  backward  from  the  time  of  writing 
would  bring  us  to  43  as  the  latest  date  to  which  we 
can  safely  assign  the  vision  or  revelation  of  2  Cor. 
xii.  It  is  not  certain  indeed,  that  the  revelation 
determining  Paul  to  visit  the  leaders  of  the  mother 
Church  followed  at  once  on  this  accession  of  light. 
But  it  is  probable  that  no  long  interval  elapsed,  even 
though  we  suppose  that  his  visit  took  place  after, 
rather  than  before,  Peter's  imprisonment  early 
in  44  A.  D.  If  we  have  to  place  the  visit  before 
Herod's  outburst  against  the  leaders,  it  would  have 
no  connection  with  the  famine,  because  falling 
altogether  before  44  A.  D.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
was  subsequent  to  Herod's  death  (after  April,  44) 
and   during   the   period  of   quiet  expansion  which 


58  The  Apostolic  Age. 

followed  (xii.  24) — say  46  (47),  as  Ramsay  suggests— 
the  fitness  of  the  anticipatory  reference  before  the 
events  of  44  A.  D.  is  open  to  question,  especially  if 
one  is  unable  to  accept  Ramsay's  view  that  a  pro- 
longed personal  administration  of  the  relief  is  im- 
plied by  the  narrative  in  Acts.  On  the  whole  then, 
while  it  is  not  possible  to  deny  absolutely  the  the- 
ory which  sees  in  Gal.  ii.  1-10  only  an  otherwise  un- 
recorded and  more  personal  side  of  the  relief  visit, 
yet  it  seems  more  natural  to  refer  it  to  another  visit 
altogether,  marked  by  its  private  rather  than  repre- 
sentative nature.  This  latter  feature  would  explain 
its  omission  from  Acts. 

Against  such  an  otherwise  unrecorded  visit,  prior 
even  to  the  Famine  visit,  there  seems  to  be  no  valid 
objection.  If  we  ask  whether  it  came  before  or  after 
Peter's  imprisonment  early  in  44,  we  may  reply  that 
it  hardly  matters.  In  either  case  it  came  before  the 
actual  ministry  of  the  Antiochene  charity  and  so 
yields  an  excellent  meaning  for  Gal.  ii.  10,  where 
Paul  records  the  request  to  "  remember  the  poor  "as 
a  thing  about  which  he  himself  was  even  zealous. 
This  would  be  literally  the  case  if  his  Antiochene 
friends,  probably  at  his  instigation,  were  already 
preparing  their  relief  fund  when  he  left  them  to  go 
upon  his  own  private  mission.  Some  indeed  would 
set  off  against  the  private  purpose  of  the  visit  (v.  2) 
the  fact  that  the  privacy  was  to  some  degree  broken 
into  by  the  intrusive  presence  of  certain  "  false 
brethren,"  who  managed  somehow  to  smuggle  them- 
selves into  the  conference  with  the  recognized  lead- 
ers of  the  mother  Church  (v.  4),  with  the  object  of 


Not  that  of  Acts  XV.  59 

"  spying  upon  "  the  too  large  liberty  which  they  sus- 
pected Paul  of  practising  on  the  Mission  Field. 
But  this  did  not  make  the  Conference  in  any  sense  a 
public  one ;  the  contrast  with  Acts  xv.  still  remains. 
So  conceived  the  course  of  events  was  as  follows. 
Paul  had  been  impressed  by  the  growing  success  of 
the  work  in  Antioch,  read  in  the  light  of  his  grow- 
ing revelations  in  the  mystery  of  the  universal  scope 
of  man's  redemption  in  Christ  (Eph.  iii.  4  if.).  And 
a  moment  came  when,  as  he  mused  on  the  larger 
future,  he  felt  constrained  to  visit  Jerusalem  in 
order  to  make  sure  of  the  sympathy  of  the  leading 
spirits  in  the  Church.  He  took  Barnabas,  as  his 
colleague  in  the  work  already  done,  and  Titus,  as  an 
object  lesson  in  the  efficacy  of  his  wider  Gospel. 
The  conference  as  intended  by  Paul  was  strictly  one 
of  leaders.  But  his  plan  for  a  quiet  and  amicable 
concordat  was  jeopardized  by  the  unwelcome  pres- 
ence of  certain  legally  minded  men  (probably  recent 
adherents),  who  somehow  wormed  themselves  into 
these  confidential  meetings.  But  in  spite  of  them, 
the  leaders  proved  as  large-minded  as  Paul  had  ex- 
pected of  men  pervaded  by  the  prophetic  traditions 
of  Israel  and  moulded  by  Jesus'  own  spirit ;  and  a 
division  of  functions  was  arranged.  The  only  con- 
cern expressed  by  the  older  Apostles  was  that  the 
members  of  the  New  Ecclesia  of  Israel,  admitted  by 
Paul  on  the  less  onerous  terms  of  his  Gospel,  should 
"  be  mindful  of  the  poor."  This  guarantee  of  essen- 
tial similarity  of  piety  in  the  two  missions — for  such 
seems  the  point  of  the  requirement  (cf.  James  i.  27) 
— can  hardly  be  reconciled  with  the  conditions  laid 


60  The  Apostolic  Age. 

down  in  Acts  xv.  20.  The  object  in  each  case  is  the 
same,  namely  the  keeping  the  two  sections  of  the 
New  Israel  in  touch  with  each  other  in  sentiment ; 
but  the  occasions  were  different.  Soon  after  his 
return  to  Antioch,  the  Famine  gave  Paul  and  his 
Antiochene  friends  occasion  for  manifesting  the  very 
spirit  of  loving  kindness  that  the  Judseo-Christian 
leaders  valued  so  highly.  What  Paul  had  all  along 
been  zealous  for  in  principle,  that  he  now  was  able 
to  show  in  practical  and  striking  form  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  second  public  visit  as  recorded  in  Acts  xi. 
30 ;  xii.  25.  Thereafter  it  is  most  natural  to  sup- 
pose Peter  came  down  to  see  the  generous  sister 
Church;1  and  in  the  guileless  gladness  of  his  heart 
he  fell  in  with  the  local  practice  of  ignoring  the 
stricter  Palestinian  rule  (sanctioned  only  by  "the 
tradition  of  the  elders  ")  of  eating  only  with  the  cir- 
cumcised. In  this  he  was  soon  checked  by  public 
opinion  in  Jerusalem  and  vacillated.  How  natural 
at  this  stage,  before  the  issue  had  been  formally 
raised  outside  Palestine.  How  unnatural,  even  in 
impulsive  Peter,  after  matters  of  principle  had  been 
so  debated  as  in  Acts  xv. 2 

It  has  been  observed  by  Weizsacker  that  "  the 
growing  excitement  with  which  Paul  unmistakably 
records  the  event  at  Antioch  "  proves  "  that,  in  his 

1  Contrast  with  this,  as  a  favorahle  moment  for  his  visit,  the 
morrow  of  the  Conference  in  Acts  xv. 

'The  vacillation,  too,  of  Barnabas,  surprising  as  it  seems  to  us 
in  any  case,  is  far  more  natural  before  than  after  the  experiences 
of  the  First  Missionary  Jouruey  with  Paul.  This  holds,  whether 
we  put  the  vacillation  just  before  the  Council  in  Acts  xv.  (so 
Ramsay,  in  the  face  of  xv.  2«  )  or  after  it. 


The  Issue    already    involved.  61 

view,  it  was  there  that  the  crisis  (of  the  Juclaistic 
issue)  was  reached."  The  crisis  began  there  indi- 
rectly, in  a  practical  matter  involving  only  the 
equality  of  Jew  and  Gentile  in  Christ,  the  prac- 
tical decision  of  which  might  not  at  first  be  thought 
to  mean  much.  Later  on  it  arose  again  in  the  more 
drastic  form  seen  in  Acts  xv.,through  the  interven- 
tion of  the  stricter  or  Pharisaic  element  in  the  Jeru- 
salem Church  (a  secondary  and  not  an  original  ele- 
ment), who  felt  that  half  measures  would  not  meet 
the  case  of  growing  Gentile  Christianity.  Paul,  in- 
deed, saw  the  Law  to  be  involved  from  the  first,  and 
forced  the  matter  of  principle  on  Peter's  notice  at 
Antioch.  But  the  latter  felt  it  wisest  to  drop  the 
problem  altogether  as  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned 
by  withdrawing  within  his  old  lines,  those  of  the 
Palestinian  Ecclesia.  This  opportunism  was  the 
more  possible  to  his  mind  that  the  unquestioned  as- 
sumption of  the  near  return  of  the  glorified  Christ 
enabled  him  and  others  to  leave  over  certain  prob- 
lems for  the  present.  Thus  a  premature  crisis  was 
averted,  and  only  so.  For  James  at  any  rate,  the 
leading  person  of  the  Jerusalem  Church,  would  have 
been  unable  to  go  beyond  the  mere  principle  of  par- 
allel but  separate  missions.  For  him  somehow  Moses 
and  Christ  were  both  essential  to  the  Messianic 
Kingdom  proper,  however  the  Gentile  within  its 
borders  might  stand  to  the  body  politic  of  the  New 
Israel.  Thus  Paul  has  no  positive  issue  to  record  in 
Galatians.  He  had  made  his  protest,  successfully  as 
far  as  Antioch  was  concerned,  and  that  was  enough 
for  the  moment.     It  proved  his  independent  Apos- 


62  The  Apostolic  Age. 

tolic  standing,  and  that  was  his  whole  object  in  re- 
lating the  circumstance  to  the  Galatians:  his  inde- 
pendence before  setting  out  to  evangelize  them  was 
manifest. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  First  Missionary  Journey 
itself,  to  which  the  bringing  of  John  Mark  from  Je- 
rusalem (xii.  25)  already  points,  it  is  well  to  scruti- 
nize the  ideas  found  in  Saul's  remonstrance  to  Cephas, 
as  being  those  which  the  great  missionary  had  in 
reserve  to  guide  him  in  the  unknown  future.  They 
are  the  more  noteworthy  that  he  assumes  their  ac- 
ceptance by  Peter  also,  though  not  with  equal  clear- 
ness as  regards  their  negative  bearing  on  the  value 
of  the  Jewish  Law.  Their  sum  is  this.  Faith  in 
Christ  means  consciousness  of  being  indebted  to 
Christ  for  justification ;  and  this  in  turn  means  de- 
spair of  justification  in  any  other  way,  even  by  what 
the  Law  can  do  for  a  man  (cf.  Acts  iv.  12,  "in  none 
other  is  the  Salvation,"  etc.).  And  specifically,  the 
Cross  of  Christ  would  have  no  vital  meaning  if  the 
Law  still  provided  a  way  to  righteousness.  If,  on 
the  contrary,  a  Jew  stepped  down  from  the  preroga- 
tive level  of  the  Law  in  order  to  be  justified  in  Christ, 
like  any  "  sinner  of  the  Gentiles,"  surely  he  had  al- 
ready given  up  all  hope  in  the  Law.  Accordingly, 
to  attach  saving  virtue  to  the  Law  subsequently,  was 
but  to  reflect  on  one's  own  previous  attitude  in  es- 
teeming the  Law  impotent  to  justify.  This  last  idea 
was  probably  new  to  Peter,  who  had  not  had  occasion 
to  think  out  the  logic  of  his  own  trust  in  Christ. 
The  private  concordat  with  Paul  had  contemplated 
only  fellowship  in  spirit  and  at  a  distance  between 


The  Nature  of  the  Issue.  63 

the  two  Missions  as  such ;  but  now  Paul's  dialectic 
was  bringing  to  light  the  ultimate  principles  of  the 
Gospel.  These  issues  will  recur  when  we  come  to 
deal  with  Acts  xv.  For  the  present,  however,  it 
is  enough  to  realize  that  among  Judseo-Christians 
themselves  several  attitudes  were  assumed  to  believ- 
ing Gentiles  and  so  to  the  Law  ;  reaching  from  Peter, 
through  James,  down  to  the  Judaizers  who  came  to 
say  "Except  ye  be  circumcised  after  the  Mosaic 
usage,  ye  cannot  inherit  salvation  "  at  all.  But  ere 
this  extreme  section  pressed  its  views  to  the  front  by 
invading  the  Antiochene  Church  with  its  propaganda, 
a  great  forward  move  had  been  made  from  that 
Church  into  further  fields. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   FIRST    MISSIONARY   JOURNEY. 

(a)    Cyprus  and  after  (Acts  xiii.  1-13). 

HAT  period  of  time  elapsed  between 
the  return  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  from 
their  Relief  visit  (and  after  the  prob- 
able visit  of  Peter  to  Antioch),  and 
31  the  Holy  Spirit's  prompting  of  the  local 
Church  to  initiate  a  further  mission,  we  cannot  ac- 
curately determine.  But  we  gather  that  the  call 
came  through  the  medium  of  one  or  more  of  its  spe- 
cially gifted  members  called  "prophets  and  teach- 
ers." Among  these  we  learn  the  names  of  five; 
Barnabas  and  Sy  meon  Niger  (both  probably  Cypi lots), 
Lucius  of  Cyrene,1  and  Manaen  foster-brother  of 
Herod  the  tetrarch,  and  Saul.  Whilst,  then,  they 
were  engaged  in  solemn  service2  and  fasting,  the 
word  came,  "  Separate  Me  Barnabas  and  Saul  unto 
the  work  unto  which  I  have  called  them."  The 
call  came  direct  from  God,  being  made  known 
through  men  specially  sensitive  to  His  Spirit ;  the 

1  Cf.  xi.  19,  for  men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene  as  leaders  in  the 
original  evaugelization  in  Antioch. 

8  Hort  (Christian  Ecclesia,  63)  says,  "  The  context  suggests  that  it 
was  ...  a  special  act  of  worship  on  the  part  of  a  solemn  meet- 
ing of  the  whole  Ecclesia,  held  expressly  with  reference  to  a  project 
for  carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen." 

64 


Cyprus.  65 

Church's  recognition  of  the  same  was  an  act  of  the 
brotherhood  as  a  whole.1  This  was  the  fundamental 
idea  of  ordination  or  sacred  commission  in  the  Apos- 
tolic Age,  whether  it  was  to  a  function  for  life  or  to 
a  special  mission,  such  as  the  present.  The  ecclesia 
thus  identified  itself  with  the  Divine  will,  and  the 
preachers  became  the  missionaries2  of  the  Antiochene 
Church  for  this  piece  of  work,  a  fact  expressed  by 
the  laying  on  of  hands  representative  of  the  breth- 
ren and  symbolizing  the  solidarity  of  the  community 
with  its  members  whom  it  consecrated  to  God's  work 
with  prayer  and  fasting.3 

Yet  after  all  it  was  "  by  the  Holy  Spirit "  that 
the  two  missionaries  felt  themselves  "sent  forth,"  as 
they  made  their  way  to  Seleucia,  the  port  of  Anti- 
och,  and  as  they  watched  the  land  recede  from  view 
and  then  turned  their  faces  toward  Cyprus,  the  na- 
tive land  of  Barnabas.  The  date  was  probably 
spring,  47  A.  D.  Their  subordinate  assistant  was 
Barnabas'  relative,  probably  cousin,  John  Mark. 
From  the  way  in  which  his  presence  is  alluded  to, 
namely  after  mention  of  their  preaching,  we  may  per- 
haps surmise  something  touching  his  functions.  Be- 
sides looking  after  the  material  side  of  their  arrange- 
ments, he  probably  helped  to  baptize  converts  and 

1  Cf.  xiv.  26  f.,  xv.  40.  So  the  second  century  paraphrase  in 
Codex  Bezse  inserts  "all"  in  v.  3:  this,  for  the  author  of  Acts, 
goes  without  saying. 

8  It  is  totally  foreign  to  what  Paul  says  of  himself,  to  regard  the 
Church's  act  as  constituting  him  an  Apostle:  that  he  was  long 
before,  by  direct  act  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  i.  1). 

3 In  xiv.  26,  they  are  said  to  have  been  "committed  to  the 
grace  of  God  for  the  work  which  they  fulfilled." 

E 


66  The  Apostolic  Age. 

to  teach  them,  as  a  "  catechist,"  certain  simple  facts 
about  Jesus  the  Christ  and  some  of  His  notable 
sayings. 

They  landed  on  the  Eastern  shore  of  the  island,  at 
Salamis,  where  the  Jewish  colony  was  large  enough 
to  afford  several  synagogues  wherein  to  declare 
the  word  of  God.  To  the  Jew  of  necessity  belonged 
the  first  right  to  a  hearing  of  the  Gospel ; l  while  the 
most  prepared  of  the  Gentiles  were  to  be  found  at- 
tending the  synagogues.  The  work  seems  to  have 
proceeded  without  marked  opposition,  as  might  be 
expected  in  the  case  of  Barnabas'  fellow  Hellenists, 
among  whom  moreover  some  knowledge  of  the  new 
preaching  already  existed  (xi.  19).  And  what  was 
true  of  Salamis,  applied  also  to  their  tour  throughout 
the  whole  island,  until  they  reached  Paphos  in  the 
southwest,  where  the  Roman  governor  was  at  the 
time  residing.  Here  took  place  an  occurrence  of  mo- 
mentous import  to  the  mind  of  our  historian,  as  the 
manner  of  his  narrative  indicates.  The  missionaries 
were  brought  into  fresh  relations ;  and  in  the  crisis 
one  of  them  in  particular  was  brought  into  a  new 
prominence,  while  the  final  scope  of  his  Gospel 
must  have  come  home  with  fresh  realization  both  to 
himself  and  his  companions. 

The  occasion  was  an  interview  with  the  proconsul 
Sergius  Paulus,  a  man  of  good  sense,  as  well  as  of 
catholic  sympathies.  He  had  about  his  person  at 
that  time  a  Jew  of  the  type  already  seen  in  Simon 
Magus,  one  claiming  certain  superhuman  knowledge 
and  powers  (for  the  combination,  comp.  xix.  14,  19). 
Jxiii.  46,  cf.  ix.  20. 


The  New   Outlook.  67 

Such  "  Magians "  were  complex  Oriental  person- 
ages, like  the  "Masters"  of  the  modern  theosophist, 
uniting  mystic  religious  ideas,  often  suggestive  in 
character,  with  a  sort  of  pseudo-science  and  a  varying 
element  of  trickery.  Thus  they  were  often  able  to  do 
things  seemingly  or  really  out  of  the  order  of 
nature  as  then  understood.1  Accordingly  Elymas, 
"  the  sage,"  had  a  certain  attraction  for  even  a 
thoughtful  man  like  this  Proconsul ;  though  we 
are  not  given  to  understand  that  the  enthralling 
influence  usually  exerted  by  this  class  on  human 
character  had  gone  very  far  in  his  case.  But  at  any 
rate,  Elymas  could  not  tamely  see  himself  and  his 
philosophy  of  life  supplanted.  So  when,  at  the  Pro- 
consul's request,  the  Apostles  began  to  expound 
their  philosophy  of  things  divine — as  Sergius  Paulus 
would  put  it  to  himself — the  Magian  intervened  to 
turn  his  patron  aside  from  lending  too  favorable  an 
ear.  And  now  the  hour  had  come,  and  the  man  was 
ready  for  it.  In  the  might  of  a  spirit  above  his  ha- 
bitual self,  Saul  stood  forth  and  confronted  the  man 
with  an  arresting  gaze  and  with  words  of  intense 
conviction,  taxing  him,  a  Jew,  with  habitually  per- 
verting "  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  the  straight  ways," 
and  so  sinking  ever  deeper  in  deceit  and  all  villainy. 
But  the  hand  of  the  forgotten  Lord  should  be  seen 
upon  him,  if  not  for  his  own  restoration,  at  least  as 
a  witness  to  those  whose  chances  of  light  had  been 
less. 

'Such  a  person,  broadly  speaking,  was  Apollonins  of  Tyana 
(not  far  from  Tarsus),  whose  life  was  almost  coextensive  with  the 
first  century. 


68  The  Apostolic  Age. 

At  this  moment  and  in  this  attitude  the  Apostle 
seems  to  Luke  to  speak  no  lunger  as  the  Jew,  Saul, 
but  as  the  Roman  citizen,  Paul,1  through  that  side  of 
his  complex  personality  which  had  been  prepared  as 
well  by  birth  and  training,  as  by  the  special  grace 
vouchsafed  in  his  conversion.  There  follows  a  brief 
reference  to  the  effect  on  the  governor's  mind  of  the 
blindness  which  for  a  season  overtook  Elymas,  serv- 
ing as  it  did  to  convince2  him  of  the  Divine  author- 
ity of  "the  teaching  of  the  Lord,"  so  impressive  on 
its  own  merits;  and  then  we  are  hurried  on  to  mark 
the  sequel  of  this  new  departure  both  as  regards 
Paul's  new  prominence  and  the  new  emphasis  on  the 
wider  bearings  of  his  gospel.  Henceforth  the  "door 
of  faith "  actually  opened  of  God  to  the  Gentiles 
(xiv.  27)  was  to  be  the  dominant  note  of  the  Mission. 
And  Paul  was  ere  long  to  appeal  with  a  new  direct- 
ness to  the  Grseco-Roman  world,  "as  himself  a  mem- 
ber of  that  world"  in  a  degree  to  which  even  Barna- 
bas probably  remained  a  stranger.  Certainly  it  is 
hard  to  escape  the  impression  that  it  was  John 
Mark's  feeling  that  a  new  horizon  had  opened  out 
since  they  had  been  despatched  on  their  mission — 
that  it  was  in  fact  rather  a  new  mission  that  Paul 

1"Hia  two  names  were  the  alternative,  not  the  complement,  of 
each  other : "  so  that,  according  to  the  r6le  he  was  playing,  the  one 
or  the  other  became  appropriate. 

'There  is  no  mention  of  baptism  as  following  Sergius  Paulas' 
belief.  This  is  a  notable  silence  in  face  not  only  of  Acts  viii.  12  f., 
36  f.,  x.  47,  (analogous  cases  of  new  departure  in  the  spread  of  the 
Gospel),  but  also  of  the  fact  that  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
usually  associated  with  Baptism  was  a  valued  proof  of  a  fresh  ex- 
tension of  the  Church.  Hence  Blass  asks  pointedly,  "Num 
baptizatus  est  proconsul?  " 


The  Advance  into   Galatia.  69 


now  contemplated — which  really  led  to  his  abrupt 
return  home  to  Jerusalem.  Henceforth  indeed  Paul 
was  to  be  the  leading  spirit  in  a  new  and  marked 
sense,  implied  in  the  phrase  "Paul  and  his  com- 
pany"1 which  occurs  in  the  verse  recording  the 
voyage  from  Paphos  to  Perga,  during  which  the 
vision  of  an  enlarged  campaign  extending  far  beyond 
Pamphylia  and  the  adjacent  seaboard  may  have  taken 
shape  in  his  ardent  soul.  Yet  it  would  be  unwise, 
especially  in  view  of  xv.  38,  where  the  emphasis  is 
upon  the  work  from  which  he  turned  away,  to  as- 
sume that  Mark's  withdrawal  was  due  to  jealousy  for 
his  kinsman's  leadership.  The  words  "went  not 
with  them  to  the  work"  suggests  rather  fainthearted- 
ness at  the  difficulties  involved  in  a  bold  and  en- 
larging enterprise,2  when  it  was  first  broached  on 
arrival  at  Perga. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  Paul  and  Barnabas  seem  to  have 
found  little  to  arrest  their  steps  in  Perga  itself:  it 
was  the  height  of  summer,  and  preaching  in  the  low 
lying  Perga  may  have  been  physically  impossible 
to  strangers  fresh  from  the  more  breezy  Cyprus. 
In  any  case  they  pushed  forward  more  or  less 
rapidly  through  the  region  between  it  and  the 
Pisidian  Antioch,  which  lay  in  the  adjacent  province 
of  Galatia,  on  the  high  table-land,  some  3,600  feet 

1Tbis  rather  suggests  others  besides  Barnabas  and  John  Mark. 
Perhaps  Titus  was  one  of  the  party  ;  perhaps  he  was  the  unseen 
witness  to  whom  we  owe  Luke's  narrative. 

2Parnphylia  was  a  country  "of  similar  situation  to  Cilicia  and 
Syria,  and  in  the  closest  possible  relations  with  them,  whereas  it 
was  a  serious  and  novel  step  to  go  into  the  country  north  of 
Taurus." 


70  The  Apostolic  Age. 

above  the  sea.  No  motive  is  assigned  by  Acts  for 
the  direction  taken;  but  two  plausible  suggestions 
may  be  noted.  The  first  one  is  that  the  state  of 
Paul's  health  necessitated  retreat  from  the  enervating 
atmosphere  of  the  lowlands  about  Perga,  which 
stood  back  from  the  sea  on  the  river  Cestrus,  to  the 
bracing  uplands  beyond  the  Taurus  range.  This 
view  has  been  put  most  persuasively  by  Dr.  Ramsay, 
who  suspects  that  Paul's  "  stake  in  the  flesh  "  was  a 
heightened  nervous  susceptibility,  to  malarial  in- 
fluences for  instance.  In  his  epistle  to  the  Galatians 
(his  converts  in  these  regions),  Paul  himself  alludes 
to  his  first  preaching  among  them  as  occasioned  by 
physical  infirmity.  And  Ramsay  shows  how  emi- 
nently the  nervous  derangement  he  has  in  mind 
would  tend  to  awaken  contemptuous  pity  in  the  be- 
holders, especially  if  their  superstition  viewed 
malarial  fever  as  a  penalty  sent  by  some  God. 
Hence,  as  far  as  the  diagnosis  of  the  malady  goes,  it 
serves  admirably  to  bring  out  the  point  of  the 
Apostle's  grateful  testimony  that  his  Galatians  did 
not  despise  their  visitor  or  turn  from  him  as  one 
under  the  ban  of  heaven,  but  received  him  as  a 
messenger  of  God  (Gal.  iv.  13,  14).  But  Ramsay's 
theory,  as  he  himself  states  it,  involves  several  dif- 
ficulties, particularly  as  bearing  on  Mark  and  the 
conditions  under  which  lie  deserted  "  the  work."  Ac- 
cordingly McGiffert's  modified  theory  seems  prefer- 
able, namely  that  Paul  had  malarial  germs  in  his  sys- 
tem when  he  left  the  lowlands  of  Pamphylia,  but 
that  their  full  effects  only  appeared  as  he  proceeded. 
But  this  still  leaves  the  journey  itself  without  a 


Pisidian  Antioch.  Tl 


goal,  as  before.  Ramsay  thinks  it  most  accordant 
with  Luke's  methods  in  writing  to  suppose  that  An- 
tioch was  itself  the  real  goal,  the  one  end  in  view 
being  restoration  to  health.  And  so  he  would  ex- 
plain their  neglect  of  Perga,  as  contrasted  with  their 
action  on  the  route  home  (xiv.  25).  To  some,  how- 
ever, another  account  will  seem  more  probable.  Im- 
pressed with  the  policy  of  seizing  on  the  great  cen- 
tres of  population  and  influence,  like  the  Syrian 
Antioch,  Paul  may  already  have  cast  his  eyes  on 
the  great  cities  of  provincia  Asia,  Ephesus  in  par- 
ticular ;  and  he  may  have  been  on  his  way  thither 
when  he  was  laid  up  at  Antioch,  which  stood  on  the 
Royal  Road  leading  westward  to  Apamsea,  where  it 
met  the  Great  Trade  Route  through  the  south  of  Asia 
to  Ephesus.  His  plan  may  have  been  to  begin  with 
the  cultured  cities  of  the  Lycus  valley,  in  which 
were  numerous  colonies  of  Jews,  and  so  work  his 
way  to  Ephesus,  whence  the  return  journey  by  sea 
would  be  easy.  This  was  at  least  the  goal  of  the 
Second  Mission  Journey  (xvi.  6).  Moreover,  the 
less  ambitious  route,  through  Pisidian  Antioch,  the 
Lycaonian  cities,  his  own  Tarsus,  and  so  back  to 
Antioch  (i.  «.,  the  regions  just  beyond  his  own  earlier 
work  in  Cilicia),seems  definitely  excluded  by  a  state- 
ment in  Gal.  iv.  13.  For  there  he  remarks  that  his 
preaching  in  the  Galatian  cities  was  not  premedi- 
tated, but  accidental,  occasioned  by  an  illness. 

(b)  South  Galatia  (Acts  xiii.  14-xiv.). 

After  a  trying  journey  and  a  large  measure  of 
those  "  perils  of  rivers,  perils  of  robbers,"  to  which 


. 


Paul  later  refers  incidental.  bed. 

The  city  bad  the  8  Iloman  (     and 

I  and  military  centre  of  the  south- 
ern half  of  the  :  Galatia,  which  at 
that  time  extended  from  north  to  south  right  ac. 

plateau  of  Asia   Minor.         .  -  lined  a 

considerable    Jewish    el  -       they 

soon  found  their  way  to  the  synagogue  for  the  S 
bath    servic  BJ    courteo  .  ted   by 

the  rulers  or  managers  nagogue  to  add. 

the  -e,  and  with  a  gesture  inviting 

.t  attention,  spoke  to  t  tile  ad- 

. lowing  purr    le.     "God's 
said  be.  n  People  had  culminated  in 

the  theocracy,  d  in  the  rule  of  David,  "a 

man   a:  But  there  was  a  promise 

touching  a  yet  greater  Son  of  David.     That  pro: 
had  now  been  fulfilled  in  Jesus,  sent  as  Saviour  to 

el  according  to  the  witness  of  runner, 

John  the  Bap:!  id   the  menage  of  Salvation 

was  now  sent  to  such  as  Le  was  addressing  no  less 
than,  nay  more  than,  to  those  in  Judaea.  For  Jeru- 
salem and  its  leaders,  in  their  very  blindness,  had 
fulfilled  the  voices  of  the  Prophets  ly  read 

in.  their  hearing,  by  judging  and  unjustly  doing  to 
death  this  Jesus.     But  from  the  dead  He  was  rai 
of  God  and  manifested  to  the  men  who  had  been  His 

ciates.     These,  then,  were  now  representing  H.r- 
claims  to  the  Jewish  people ;  while  he  and  Barnabas 
were  the  bearers  to  such  as  his  hearers,  sons  of  Abra- 
ham and  all  who  were  ready  to  give  ear,  of  the  glad 
<  Ramsay,  with  the  growiog  oonaen&us  of  scholars. 


to  the  C  T-'> 

the  promise  to  the  father*  had  been  ful- 
filled in  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.    For  thereby  Jle 
r  rode  Sou  and 
f  the  full  Davidic  prei  -.     Accord* 

ingly  before  them  that  day  Jay  the  offer  of  I 

-  through  JJiiu,  of  ■*  justification  impose!' 
ble  by  meani  of  the  Moaaic  Law.  but  open  I 
one  who  placed  nil  trust  in  Him,    Let  them  beed 
Hsbakkuk's  Mrarning  t  unbelief. 

'J     ■  appeal  d  the  assembly  as  a 

body  '  that,  though  unwilling  to  decide  at  om 

validity,  they  a  furtbi  ment  on 

the  Sabbath  following.    There 
many  individual*,  both   /ewe  and 
bad  be<  mored  and 

who  followed  Paul  and  Barnabi  ibly 

had  broken  up.    The  ApoetL  ed  intoconw  i 

tion  with  them,  i  a  work  of  pri»i 

ination  irhicfa  ere  the  ireek'e  end  made  their  influ* 
I  throughout  the  whole  city.    Hence  on  the 
bath    appointed   the 
mainly  through  an  influx  of  Gentiles  irhicfa  : 
the  jealousy  of  the  leading  J  j  this  time  fully 

alive  to  the  Ired  in  the  'aching. 

that,  no  .sooner  bad  Paul  opened  nil  mouth  to 
continue  his  fo:  and  probably  to  em- 

knem  <jf  {}><-.  J#wi  oftfcfi  nrnf— ,  ■*   t* 

oo  with   PaleitiM  I 

ttuU   \h*j  bad  bwyelj  Jwt 

with  J«d*M  a<j<i  i"  iced,    XMfli 

toplied  i»y  wh;.  ',/  'jjiuoii  Hence 

the  appeal  frooi  tbe  '  totbemaadts 

Ibefi  i  ■  i   toaefa  fxiU.  M  ft). 


74  The  Apostolic  Age. 

phasize  the  door  of  faith  as  open  to  all,  than  they 
broke  out  with  contradictions  and  blasphemies. 
Then  Paul  and  Barnabas  spoke  out  boldly  and  said  : 
"  It  was  needful  that  the  word  of  God  should  first 
be  spoken  to  you.  Seeing  ye  thrust  it  from  you  and 
judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  'the  eternal  life,' lo, 
we  turn  to  the  heathen.  For  so  hath  the  Lord  com- 
manded us,  saying,  /  have  set  Thee  as  Light  unto  the 
Gentiles,  that  Thou  shouldest  be  for  salvation  unto  the 
end  of  the  earth."  These  words  probably  mark  a 
distinct  epoch  in  Paul's  life.  For  though  they  in- 
volve nothing  new  in  principle,  and  were  uttered  with 
only  a  local  bearing — since  he  continued  to  go  first 
to  the  synagogue  wherever  there  was  one — yet  his 
experiences  in  this  week  must  have  counted  heavily 
toward  maturing  his  conviction  that  his  work  was 
to  lie  chiefly  among  non-Jews  and  that  Gentile  Chris- 
tianity was  even  to  outdo  its  elder  sister.  In  any 
case  the  declaration  was  received  by  the  heathen  with 
enthusiasm,  and  many  responding  to  divine  grace 
believed. 

And  so  arose  the  first  known  congregation 
formally  separate  from  the  synagogue.  Nor  was 
this  more  than  the  beginning  of  a  wider  work. 
For  "  the  word  of  the  Lord  began  to  spread 
abroad  throughout  all  the  region,"  that  is  the  area 
administratively  dependent  on  Antioch  and  so  in 
constant  intercourse  with  it.  This  no  doubt  pre- 
supposes the  lapse  of  two  or  three  months,  but 
hardly  more.  For  not  only  is  there  no  notice  of  a 
"  considerable  time,"  as  at  Iconium ;  but  in  the  next 
breath  the  writer  records  the  dead  set  against  the 


Iconium.  T5 

schismatic  synagogue  made  by  tlie  official  Jews, 
particularly  through  their  influence  with  certain 
proselytesses  of  good  social  position,  who  in  turn 
would  help  to  stir  up  the  chief  men  of  the  city  to 
take  action.1  Persecution  followed,  resulting  in  the 
expulsion  of  the  Apostles  from  the  Antiochene  ter- 
ritory in  the  interests  of  peace  and  order.  It  has 
been  observed  that  Acts  passes  but  lightly  over 
the  Apostolic  sufferings.  But  we  learn  from  Paul 
himself  how  severe  the  persecution  here  and  in  other 
Galatian  cities  really  was.  In  the  very  evening  of 
life  he  reminds  Timothy,  who  must  have  seen  some 
of  them  with  his  own  eyes,  of  the  sort  of  things  that 
befell  him  in  Antioch,  in  Iconium,  in  Lystra, — what 
persecutions  he  endured  (2  Tim.  iii.  11).  And  it  is 
highly  probable  that  of  the  three  occasions  on  which, 
prior  to  56  A.  D.,  he  was  beaten  with  the  rods  of 
lictors — those  of  magistrates  in  Colonics  rather  than 
of  Roman  governors — one,  if  not  both,  of  the  un- 
recorded cases  belongs  to  this  journey.  And  simi- 
larly with  some  at  least  of  the  five  scourgings  at  the 
hands  of  Jews,  recorded  in  the  same  context  (2  Cor. 
xi.  24  f.). 

But  persecution  cowed  the  spirits  neither  of  the 
disciples,  who  were  filled  with  joy  and  holy  enthusi- 
asm, nor  of  the  Apostles,  who  quietly  turned  their 
steps  to  a  new  sphere  of  work.  This  they  found  in 
Iconium,  which  lay  some  ninety  miles  to  the  south- 

JThe  influence  here  attributed  to  women  is  thoroughly  in 
keeping  with  the  social  traditions  of  Asia  Minor,  in  contrast  to  a 
typical  Greek  city  like  Athens  :  see  also  xvii.  12,  for  a  similar 
local  touch. 


76  The  Apostolic  Age. 

east  and  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Antiochene 
magistrates.  The  journey  would  usually  occupy 
some  three  or  four  days:  but  probably  the  zeal  of 
their  converts  did  not  suffer  the  Apostles  to  traverse 
it  on  foot.  They  took  this  direction  rather  than  a 
westerly  one,  partly  because  Paul  was  not  yet 
strong  enough  to  enter  on  a  large  enterprise,  such  as 
preaching  in  the  province  of  Asia,  and  partly  be- 
cause they  may  already  have  known  of  sympathizers 
in  Iconium,  such  as  the  Onesiphorus  of  the  apocry- 
phal Acts  of  Paul  and  TheJcla.  This  man  is  repre- 
sented as  aware  of  Paul's  approach,  and  as  going 
forth  to  meet  him  at  the  point  where  the  Royal 
Road  from  Antioch  to  Lystra  is  joined  by  the  road 
branching  off  to  Iconium  :  and  as  this  Royal  Road 
became  unimportant  after  74  A.  D.,  it  looks  as  if 
there  were  a  contemporary  nucleus  of  fact  in  this 
part  of  the  romance.  Iconium  itself  was  the  metrop- 
olis of  a  group  of  fourteen  cities,  once  the  tetrarchy 
of  Lycaonia  under  a  petty  prince,  and  now  the  Ly- 
caonian  region  of  the  Roman  province  of  Galatia. 
But  the  city  was  originally  Phrygian.  And  hence 
its  inhabitants,  then  and  for  long  after,  carefully  dis- 
tinguished themselves  from  their  ruder  Lycaonian 
neighbors  by  the  racial  title  Phrygian.  This  local 
shade  of  feeling  is  preserved  in  the  wording  of  the 
Apostles'  flight  from  the  city,  as  "  unto  the  cities  of 
Lycaonia,  Lystra  and  Derbe,  and  the  surrounding 
Region," — i.  e.,  from  Phrygia  Galatica  (as  it  was  to 
the  Iconians)  into  Lycaonia  Galatica.  Yet  Iconium 
was  but  a  town  in  the  Regio  round  Antioch  :  and  it 
was  only  as  they  traversed  the  eighteen  miles  be- 


Lystra.  77 

tween  Iconium  and  Lystra  that  Paul  and  Barnabas 
crossed  the  Lycaonian  frontier  and  entered  a  new 
Regio  of  the  same  great  Galatic  province. 

Much  success  followed  their  preaching  in  the  syn- 
agogue at  Iconium,  among  both  Jews  and  Greeks. 
But  again  certain  Jews  caused  trouble  and  poisoned 
the  minds  of  the  heathen  against  the  brethren. 
They  did  not  however  at  once  attain  their  end:  for 
the  preachers'  stay  was  of  considerable  length,  dur- 
ing which  they  were  outspoken  in  reliance  on  the 
Lord,  who  testified  His  approval  of  the  message  of 
His  grace  by  signs  and  wonders  done  through  them. 
But  finally  the  whole  city  took  sides,  some  with  the 
Jews,  some  with  the  Apostles.  A  combined  attack 
was  organized  by  the  heathen  and  the  Jews  under 
the  lead  of  their  rulers,  to  maltreat  and  stone  them. 
Getting  wind  of  it,  they  fled  across  the  border  into 
the  Lycaonian  Region,  and  there  continued  their 
work  of  evangelization. 

The  two  cities  of  this  Regio,  characterized  in  the 
main  by  the  native  pre-Greek  village  system,  were 
Lystra  and  Derbe.  The  former  was  an  important 
garrison  town,  south-southwest  from  Iconium.  It 
was  the  terminus  of  the  Royal  Road  from  An- 
tioch,  like  it  a  colony,  and  the  chief  centre  of 
Grseco  Roman  civilization  in  those  parts.  Yet  the 
older  native  element  was  strongly  represented,  as 
comes  out  in  the  narrative  of  the  healing  of  the  man 
that  was  a  cripple.  This  marvel  was  hailed  by  the 
populace  with  the  ciy,  uttered  in  their  local  dialect, 
"The  Gods  in  human  guise  have  come  down  to  us:" 
and  with  true  Oriental  feeling  for  dignified  repose 


78  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  manner  as  the  mark  of  greatness,  they  began  to 
speak  of  Barnabas  as  Zeus,  but  of  Paul  as  Hermes — 
the  spokesman  of  the  gods.  And  to  words  they  added 
deeds.  For  at  their  request  the  priest  of  "  Zeus  be- 
fore the  city''''  (the  local  name  of  the  supreme  God) 
prepared  to  offer  special  sacrifice  before  the  temple- 
portals,  to  celebrate  the  epiphany  of  the  gods.  This 
coming  to  the  Apostles'  ears,  they  rent  their  gar- 
ments in  their  distress,  and  rushed  forth  from  the 
city  among  the  crowd,  crying  out,  "Why  do  ye  so? 
We  too  are  men,  men  of  like  nature  with  you, 
bearers  to  you  of  the  glad  call  to  turn  away  from 
these  vain  ones  to  a  God  that  lives,  who  made  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  and  the  sea  and  all  that  is 
therein.  He,  in  the  generations  gone  by,  suffered  all 
the  peoples  to  go  in  their  own  ways :  and  yet  He  left 
not  Himself  without  witness,  in  that  He  did  good, 
giving  you  from  heaven  rains  and  fruitful  seasons, 
filling  your  hearts  with  food  and  gladness."  It  was 
only  with  extreme  difficulty  that  they  at  last  dis- 
suaded the  crowds  from  their  purpose.  But  the  in- 
cident enabled  them  to  bring  home  more  forcibly 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  possible,  the  idea  of 
God  implied  in  their  preaching — an  idea  actually  so 
different  from  that  in  which  these  superstitious  natives 
had  been  bred,  while  3ret  appealing  to  the  natural 
theology  of  the  human  soul.  Through  it  too  we  get 
fresh  insight  into  the  wise  and  sympathetic  tact  with 
which  Paul  addressed  himself  to  various  audiences. 

Interference  from  outside,  however,  cut  short  the 
work  in  Lystra.  Though  there  seem  to  have  been 
hardly  any  Jews  in  the  city  (yet  see  xvi.  1  ff.),  the 


The  Return  Journey.  79 

jealousy  of  those  in  Antioch  and  Iconium  could  not 
endure  this  extension  to  the  heathen  of  Jewish  bless- 
ings apart  from  Jewish  obligations.  Accordingly  Ave 
find  them  sending  emissaries  to  repeat  the  slanderous 
tactics  found  successful  at  Iconium.  The  enthusi- 
asm of  the  mob  had  been  checked  by  finding  itself 
at  cross  purposes  with  the  missionaries  in  the  epi- 
sode just  related  ;  and  their  simple  minds  fell  a  ready 
prey  to  the  suggestion  of  bad  motives  in  men  whose 
minds  they  could  not  fathom.  The  upshot  of  it  all 
was  that  Paul  was  one  day  stoned  and  left  outside 
the  city  for  dead.  But  to  the  delight  of  the  dis- 
ciples he  ultimately  rose  up  in  their  midst  (the 
simple  fact  is  stated  without  any  heightening  com- 
ment), reentered  the  city,  and  on  the  morrow  set 
forth  to  Derbe.  It  was  the  frontier  city  of  the 
Galatic  province  on  the  southeast  and  a  place  of 
some  importance  about  this  time  (Claudio-Derbe). 
Of  the  process  of  its  evangelization  nothing  note- 
worthy is  recorded:  but  the  words  "made  disciples 
of  a  considerable  number  "  seem  to  imply  thorough 
work  and  a  stay  of  some  duration. 

Thus  we  may  imagine  it  early  in  a  new  year l  when 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  unwilling  to  go  beyond  into  non- 
Roman  Lycaonia  where  less  preparedness  could  be 
counted  on,  determined  rather  to  retrace  their  steps 
and  consolidate  their  work  in  the  souls  of  converts 
who  must  have  been  sorely  tried  in  the  meantime. 
This  they  could  now  do  the  more  easily  that  new 

1  Ramsay  would  make  it  the  second  year  since  entry  into  Gala- 
tia.  Bnt  this  seems  to  allow  too  long  a  time  to  elapse  before  per- 
secution arose  in  each  city. 


80  The  Apostolic  Age. 

magistrates  had  probably  come  into  office  in  the 
cities  in  question.  The  encouragement  given  took 
the  form  suited  to  the  occasion.  To  men  hard  be- 
stead, the  exhortation  to  "  stand  fast  in  faith  "  was 
backed  by  the  assurance  that  "many  tribulations" 
were  a  necessary  part  of  the  process  through  which 
the  Kingdom  of  God  was  to  be  finally  reached.  But 
not  only  individual  fortitude  was  needed :  corporate 
life  and  discipline  must  also  be  strong.  To  this  end 
they  supervised  the  election l  of  certain  recognized 
leaders  for  each  church,  styled  after  the  Jewish  usage 
elders — men  of  standing  and  experience  such  as  goes 
along  with  mature  years.  This  is  interesting  as  the 
first  case  in  which  we  have  record  of  steps  taken  by 
Paul  to  secure  definite  organization  among  his  con- 
verts, the  better  to  realize  the  Christian  life.  "  Then 
with  this  simple  organization,"  says  Dr.  Hort,  "they 
entrusted  the  young  Ecclesice  to  the  Lord's  care,  to 
pursue  an  independent  life.  Such  seems  to  be  the 
meaning  of  the  phrase  'they  commended  them  to  the 
Lord  on  whom  they  had  believed,'  which  resembles 
some  of  the  farewell  words  spoken  to  the  Ephesian 

•As  Ramsay  observes  (St.  Paul  122)  it  would  be  unlike  Luke's 
precision  of  language  to  use  tbe  term  whose  distinctive  meaning 
was  to  elect  by  popular  vote  unless  he  intended  its  strict  sense. 
"The  procedure,  then,  seems  to  be  not  dissimilar  to  Roman  elec- 
tions of  magistrates,  in  which  the  presiding  magistrate  subjected 
all  candidates  to  a  scrutiny  as  to  their  qualifications,  aud  had 
large  discretion  in  rejecting  those  whom  he  considered  unsuitable  " 
(cf.  1  Clement  42.  4,  44.  3,  4  for  these  factors).  If  we  may  trust 
the  analogy  of  an  inscription  relating  to  Smyrna,  these  Elders 
probably  corresponded  to  the  Jewish  archons,  who  were  of  a  more 
official  type  than  the  leading  persons  in  a  synagogue  known  as 
archisynagogi  (cf.  xiii.  15  and  the  ft  text  of  xiv.  2). 


Judaizing  Reaction.  81 

Elders  at  Miletus"  (xx.  32) — where  the  commenda- 
tion is  personal,  relating  to  Christian  character,  and 
not  official.  That  is,  the  several  churches  as  such  are 
entrusted  to  the  Lord's  keeping  in  a  season  of  prayer 
solemnized  by  tasting. 

The  rest  of  their  return  journey  is  soon  told.  Pass- 
ing through  Pisidia  they  reentered  Pamphylia,  and 
this  time  preached  in  Perga  ere  going  down  to  em- 
bark at  Attaleia,  the  port  at  which  ships  bound  for 
Syria  mostly  called.  On  arrival  at  Antioch  they 
forthwith  assembled  a  church  meeting  and  reported 
"  all  that  God  had  done  with  them,  and  that  He  had 
opened  to  the  heathen  a  door  of  faith."  And  so 
ended  the  first  great  missionary  campaign  on  a  cath- 
olic or  simply  human  basis.  We  shall  see  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians  what  a  battle  Paul  had  soon 
to  fight  to  maintain  his  work  in  all  its  breadth. 
Meantime  we  may  be  sure  that  the  fresh  experience 
gained  of  God's  dealings  with  man  in  His  Gospel, 
made  him  return  with  a  more  triumphant  assurance 
than  ever  that  he  was  indeed  called  to  be,  in  a  very 
special  sense,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

(c)  The  Sequel :  the  Jerusalem  Council  (Acts  xv.). 

The  labors  of  this  first  great  incursion  into  the 
Roman  Empire  proper,  were  followed  by  a  certain 
period  of  quieter  work  at  Antioch,  their  base.  Yet 
it  was  not  a  time  of  tranquillity.  For  the  strictest 
section  of  the  Judcean  Church  was  now  thoroughly 
aroused  by  the  menace  to  Judaism,  as  a  national 
polity,  involved  in  the  alarmingly  rapid  increase 
F 


82  The  Apostolic  Age. 

within  the  New  Israel  of  those  who  were  not  com- 
mitted to  Judaism  as  such.  The  proportion  between 
the  two  elements,  Jewish  and  purely  Gentile,  had 
changed  and  was  ever  changing  for  the  worse.  They 
felt  that  action  must  be  taken  if  the  Jewish  element 
was  not  to  be  swamped  in  a  church  like  Antioch, 
and  the  very  conception  of  the  Christian  Church 
itself  become  other  than  it  had  been,  at  least  in 
Judaea.  And  so  arose  the  Judaizing  propaganda 
which  for  a  time  colored  the  life  of  the  Church  and 
added  enormously  to  the  strain  of  Paul's  own  days. 
Quite  probably  the  news  of  the  Galatian  mission 
finally  determined  them  to  move,  and  that  all  along 
the  line,  in  Galatia  as  well  as  at  Antioch.  It  was  a 
bold  step  to  assail  the  freer  Gospel  in  its  stronghold. 
Still  it  had  to  be  done,  or  their  cause  was  lost.  We 
may  suppose,  however,  that  they  set  about  it  as 
quietly  and  gradually  as  possible,1  and  that  the  issue 
only  became  clear  and  the  conflict  keen  after  they 
had  been  some  time  at  work.  The  issue,  once  raised, 
was  pressed  in  its  most  drastic  form;  not  merely  full 
inter-communion,  but  even  salvation  itself  was  made 
conditional  on  the  Mosaic  rite  of  circumcision.  It 
looks  as  if  these  zealots  for  the  Law — who  had  been 
growing  in  numbers  in  Judsea  as  the  Pharisees  be- 
came less  shy  of  what  was  proving  itself  a  devoutly 
Jewish  movement — had  learned  by  experience  that 
the  mere  witholding  of  full  fellowship  was  not  a 
potent  enough  weapon  with  which  to  gain  their  end 
(cf.  xi.  3,  17,  18).  It  had  probably  been  tried  be- 
fore (Gal.  ii.  13  f.),  and  after  a  temporary  promise 
1  Possibly  they  began  their  campaign  in  Paul's  absence. 


Paul's  Attitude:  kGalatians?  83 

of  success  had  failed,  thanks  to  Paul's  resolution  and 
clear-sightedness.  Hence  the  stronger  line  must  be 
tried:  Mosaism  must  be  made  a  matter  of  life  or 
death  to  each  Gentile  believer.  There  had  been 
something  strained  and  unnatural  in  the  earlier  posi- 
tion that  one  class  of  Christians  should  not  associate 
with  another.  To  take  the  bolder  line,  and  challenge 
the  right  of  the  inferior  type  to  the  status  of  Chris- 
tian at  all  (unless  it  came  under  the  Jewish  Law  by 
formal  incorporation  into  Judaism),  was  at  the  same 
time  to  occupy  more  tenable  ground.  For  had  God 
made  another  door  to  Himself  outside  of  the  Law  of 
Moses?  And  if  so,  was  not  the  Law  made  void? 
Paul  had  already  discerned  this  issue  lurking  under 
the  more  harmless-looking  requirement;  and  his  keen 
logic  had  then  and  there  dragged  it  to  the  light  of 
day.  And  now  again  the  brunt  of  the  fight  fell  on 
him — though  by  his  side  now  stood  Barnabas,  forti- 
fied by  the  experience  of  the  wider  mission-field.  But 
the  prestige  of  the  Jerusalem  Church,  in  whose  name 
the  legalists  claimed  to  speak,  was  too  great  to  be 
overcome  by  pure  argument  in  the  minds  of  very 
many,  especially  when  the  logic  of  the  free  admis- 
sion of  the  Nations  was  being  pressed  in  a  way  they 
had  never  before  realized.  So  the  brethren  sent  Paul 
and  Barnabas  and  "some  others  of  their  number"  (a 
larger  party  than  that  implied  in  Paul's  account  of 
his  visit  recorded  in  Gal.  ii.  Iff.)  up  to  Jerusalem,  "to 
meet  the  Apostles  and  Elders  "  there  and  discuss  the 
matter  with  them. 

It  is  significant  of  Paul's  sense  of  the  importance 
of  real  unity  between  the  two  branches  of  Messiah's 


84  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Community,  that  he  should  have  taken  this  step. 
For  its  meaning  might  easily  be  misinterpreted,  as  if 
he  were  ready  to  submit  the  question  as  an  open  one 
to  the  judgment  of  any  earthly  tribunal;  whereas 
it  touched  the  essence  of  his  own  apostolate.  And 
the  fact  that  he  did  go  up  at  all  on  this  deputation, 
strongly  supports  the  view  that  he  had  already 
sounded  the  leading  Jerusalem  authorities  on  the 
point,  and  had  come  to  an  understanding  with  Peter, 
James,  and  John  on  the  vital  principle  at  stake  (Gal. 
ii.  1-10).  But  this  assured,  he  was  not  jealous  of 
any  confirmation  of  Jerusalem's  position,  as  mother- 
city  and  chief  tribunal  of  the  Church  as  a  whole, 
that  might  accrue  from  such  a  visit.  His  later  visits 
prove  how  generously  he  strove  to  keep  up  a  dutiful, 
though  not  strictly  subordinate,  relation  between 
Gentile  Christendom  and  that  Church  which  Provi- 
dence had  so  far  made  the  centre  of  gravity  in  Mes- 
siah's twofold  Ecclesia. 

It  was  probably  while  Paul  was  engaged  in  fight- 
ing the  battle  for  "  the  truth  of  the  Gospel "  with 
the  Judaizers  in  Antioch,  that  news  reached  him  of 
the  invasion  of  his  Galatian  churches  by  a  small  but 
zealous  band  of  like-minded  men,  and  that  the  "  lit- 
tle leaven  "  was  threatening  to  "leaven  the  whole 
batch."  Much  as  he  burned  to  hasten  forthwith  to 
the  aid  of  his  raw  converts,  his  immature  "  babes  " 
in  Christ  (iv.  19,  20),  he  could  not  desert  his  post  at 
the  key  of  the  situation,  where  the  battle  had  to  be 
fought  if  the  victory  was  to  be  decisive.  But  he 
pours  forth  his  very  soul  in  the  form  of  a  letter — 
that  most  expressive  and  personal  of  literary  forms; 


The  Jerusalem    Conference.  85 

and  in  the  doctrinal  part  of  this  letter  we  have  per- 
haps echoes  of  the  very  things  he  was  saying  to  the 
Judaizers,  face  to  face  at  Antioch.  The  situation 
suggested  would  further  explain  the  emotional  im- 
petuosity of  the  letter,  conjoined  with  the  precision 
and  firmness  of  the  doctrinal  passages.  Some  see  in 
the  form  of  its  salutation,  "  all  the  brethren  that  are 
with  me,"  a  hint  that  the  letter  was  written,  not 
from  amid  a  church's  life,  but  while  journeying.  If 
so,  it  may  well  have  been  when  en  route  for  Jerusa- 
lem, at  the  spot  where  the  Galatian  messengers  had 
come  up  upon  him.  This  again  would  give  point  to 
the  vain  longing  he  seems  to  express,  that  he  could 
hurry  to  his  perplexed  children  and  so  resolve  their 
doubts  and  his  own  (iv.  20). 

As  the  deputation  passed  through  Phoenicia  and 
Samaria,  they  took  the  opportunity  of  "fully  de- 
scribing the  conversion  of  the  Nations."  And  the 
writer  tells  us  that  the  news  awakened  great  joy  in 
all  the  brethren,  so  reminding  us  once  more  of  the 
exceptional  state  of  Judaean  sentiment  as  compared 
with  that  of  extra-Judsean  Christians,  even  where 
the  latter  themselves  observed  Mosaic  usages.  On 
arrival  a  formal  audience  was  given  them  by  the  Je- 
rusalem Church,  the  Apostles,  and  the  Elders;  and 
a  basis  for  further  conference  was  laid  in  the  narra- 
tive of  facts  touching  their  Gentile  experiences. 
This  at  once  brought  the  opposition  to  their  feet  in 
the  person  of  "  certain  believers  belonging  to  the 
sect  of  the  Pharisees,"  who  laid  it  down  that  Gentile 
converts  must  submit  to  circumcision  and  observ- 
ance  of   the    Law  of   Moses.     Discussion    was   ad- 


86  The  Apostolic  Age. 

journed  to  a  later  day,1  when,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Apostles  and  the  Elders  and  of  the  assembled 
Church,  much  and  probably  noisy  debate  took  place 
on  the  issues  involved.  The  leading  Apostles  re- 
served themselves  for  the  critical  moment  when 
minds  are  ripe  for  decision.  Then  first  Peter  stood 
up  and  reminded  the  assembly  of  his  own  experience 
in  days  gone  by,  how  that  through  him  also  the 
heart-searching  God  had  revealed  his  mind  and  ways 
in  giving  Gentiles  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  seal  of  belief, 
even  as  to  themselves.  God,  then,  had  made  no  dis- 
tinction, seeing  that  by  faith  He  purified  the  hearts 
of  those  hitherto  held  unclean.  Were  they,  he 
asked,  to  tempt  God  by  going  behind  His  action  and 
imposing  on  Gentiles  a  yoke  which  had  proved  all 
too  heavy  for  their  fathers  and  themselves,  namely 
fulfilment  of  the  Law  as  condition  of  Divine  favor 
or  salvation  ?  It  is  on  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
that  their  own  confidence  of  Salvation  now  rested — 
the  very  ground  upon  which  Gentiles  alone  rely. 

Peter's  word  told :  silence  fell  on  the  multitude ; 
and  Barnabas  and  Paul  seeing  their  chance,  followed 
up  the  effect  by  rehearsing  the  like  witness  which 
God  had  given  to  Gentile  believers  in  their  own 
ministry.  And  after  they  were  done,  James  seized 
the  moment  for  summing  up  in  terms  which  he  saw 
would  now  voice  the  prevailing  feeling  of  the 
assembly.     In  this,  as  in  other  respects,  the  account 

'To  the  interval  between  the  two  public  gatherings,  Lightfoot, 
and  those  who  see  in  Acts  xv.  and  Gal.  ii.  1-10,  accounts  of  the 
same  events,  assign  those  private  conferences  of  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas with  the  leading  Apostles  of  which  Paul  makes  everything  in 
his  narrative  in  Galatians. 


James1  Summing   Up.  87 

accurately  reflects  the  more  informal  methods  of 
Oriental  deliberations,  in  which  the  sense  of  the 
meeting  is  taken  by  some  influential  person  to  the 
general  satisfaction.  Starting  from  the  facts  alluded 
to  by  "  Symeon,"  he  pointed  out  that  they  were  but  in 
keeping  with  what  Amos  had  said,  touching  the  re- 
building of  the  ruined  Davidic  theocracy,  in  which 
mankind  at  large  was  to  find  its  true  home.  Ac- 
cordingly his  own  opinion  was  against  hampering 
those  who  from  among  the  peoples  were  actually 
turning  to  God,  but  in  favor  of  sending  word  to 
them  to  abstain  from  certain  gross  forms  of  defile- 
ment.1 Such  abstinence  was  needful  out  of  deference 
to  Jewish  sentiment,  which  existed  far  and  wide  be- 
yond Palestine,  through  synagogues  that  kept  alive 
the  Mosaic  Law  in  their  midst.  For  if  Gentile  ad- 
herents of  Jesus  the  Messiah  were  to  do  things  from 
which  every  Jew  shrank  with  long-inherited  ab- 
horrence, it  would  mean  putting  a  stumbling-block 
in  the  way  of  the  Jews  in  relation  to  the  Messiah- 

1  The  defilements  were  those  of  eating  food  polluted  by  idol- 
atrous use  ;  fornication  in  the  sense  of  all  illicit  alliances  (includ- 
ing nearer  degrees  of  kinship  than  Jewish  usage  allowed  :  cf.  1 
Cor.  v.  1«.) ;  eating  the  meat  of  animals  from  which  that  mys- 
teriously sacred  principle,  the  lifeblood,  had  not  been  allowed  to 
depart;  using  blood  in  any  way  for  food.  Dr.  Hort  supposes 
these  points  were  meant  as  concrete  indications  of  pure  and  true 
"natural  religion,"  not  of  Judaism  in  the  exclusive  sense. 
Thus  the  shrinking  from  "profanely"  familiar  use  of  blood, 
though  specially  sanctioned  by  Jewish  law,  was  shared  by  other 
peoples  also.  And  in  any  case,  without  going  deeply  into  the 
question  of  the  choice  of  just  these  four  things,  we  may  agree  that 
"at  most  they  are  isolated  precepts  of  expediency  " — answering, 
as  it  were,  to  the  renunciations  which  early  accompanied  baptism 
— and  did  not  rest  on  the  principle  which  was  in  dispute. 


The  Apostolic  Age. 


ship  of  Jesus.  Such  a  consideration  (so  far  as 
applicable  to  a  given  locality)  was  just  of  the  kind 
to  which  Paul  himself  was  ever  ready  to  yield  due 
weight — a  matter  not  of  compulsion  on  principle,  but 
of  self-denial  at  the  behest  of  charity  and  the  com- 
mon good.  The  points  at  issue,  circumcision  and 
the  binding  obligation  of  the  Jewish  law  as  such, 
were  not  insisted  on.  The  case  which  remained  for 
compromise  was  one  of  expediency  and  reciprocity 
in  consideration.  And  here  Paul  was  always  large- 
hearted,  an  advocate  for  duties  rather  than  rights  in 
relation  to  Christ's  freemen. 

And  so  the  Pharisaic  element  was  overruled,  and 
it  was  agreed  to  send  selected  delegates  to  Antioch 
and  its  region,  as  bearers  and  expounders  of  a  letter 
in  the  above  sense.  Those  chosen  to  accompany 
Paul  and  Barnabas  on  behalf  of  the  Jerusalem 
Church  and  its  authorities,  were  Judas  Barsabbas 
(possibly  brother  to  the  Joseph  of  the  same  surname, 
i.  23)  and  Silas,  "  leading  men  among  the  brethren." 
The  epistle,  which  possibly  preserves  something  of 
the  structure  of  epistles  from  the  Sanhedrin  to  local 
authorities,  was  in  the  name  of  "  the  Apostles  and  the 
elder  brethren,"  as  representing  the  whole  com- 
munity: and  addressed  itself  to  the  brethren  of 
Gentile  origin  in  Antioch  and  the  adjoining  regions 
of  Syria  and  Cilicia,  i.  <?.,  the  area  in  which  the 
trouble  had  arisen  and  by  which  the  question  had 
been  referred  to  Jerusalem.  No  account  was  taken 
of  possible  converts  in  other  lands.  It  was  primarily 
an  answer  to  the  problem  presented  by  given  local 
conditions — a  fact  which  left  Paul  free  to  ignore  its 


Significance  of  the  Problem.  89 

letter  when  he  judged  local  conditions  sufficiently 
different  from  those  here  contemplated.  It  briefly 
disowns  the  line  taken  by  certain  of  their  own  peo- 
ple as  having  been  quite  unauthorized ;  praises 
"  their  beloved  "  Barnabas  and  Paul  as  men  who  had 
devoted  their  lives  to  proclaiming  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  accredits  Judas  and  Silas  as 
chosen  by  common  consent  to  announce  orally  the 
same  message  as  the  letter  itself  contained.  "  For  it 
seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  us  to  lay  on 
you  no  extra  burden  save  these  matters  of  sheer 
necessity,"  namely  the  four  abstinences ;  "  from 
which  if  ye  keep  clear,  it  shall  be  well  with  you. 
Farewell."  The  party  "went  down,"  from  what  was 
still  to  Christians  their  religious  capital,  to  Antioch ; 
assembled  the  brethren;  and  handed  them  the 
epistle.  They  on  their  part  having  read  it  were 
glad  at  its  cheering  contents,  which  Judas  and  Silas, 
men  of  prophetic  gift  and  fervor,  enlarged  upon 
with  further  encouraging  words,  and  so  completely 
established  the  brethren's  confidence  in  their  free 
faith.  After  making  some  stay  the  two  delegates 
were  suffered  to  return  with  a  message  of  peace  from 
the  brethren  to  those  that  sent  them.  Meantime 
Paul  and  Barnabas  continued  to  reside  in  Antioch, 
teaching  the  Word  of  the  Lord  and  bringing  home  to 
fresh  souls  its  glad  tidings,  with  the  aid  of  many 
helpers. 

As  he  looks  back  on  the  question  underlying  most 
of  this  chapter,  namely  the  relation  of  the  Old  and 
New  dispensations  under  which  one  and  the  same 
God  had  revealed  His  will  to  His  Chosen  People, 


90  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  thoughtful  reader  must  feel  its  extreme  gravity. 
How  could  things  which  hitherto  had  been  regarded 
as  essential  conditions  of  acceptance  with  Jehovah 
be  set  aside,  as  no  longer  binding  (on  all  at  least), 
by  men  who  regarded  God  as  equally  the  author  of 
the  Old  and  of  the  New?  It  was  true,  as  the  Apos- 
tles who  most  shared  their  Master's  mind  saw  in 
various  ways  and  with  varying  degrees  of  clearness, 
that  the  problem  had  been  virtually  answered  by 
Jesus  Christ's  own  example  and  conduct.  But  what 
was  the  true  theory  underlying  His  actions  in  de- 
tail? "The  fundamental  point,  a  fulfilment  of  the 
Law  which  was  not  a  literal  retention  of  it  as  a  code 
of  commandments,  was,  as  it  is  still,  a  conception 
hard  to  grasp."  And  so  there  was  a  period  of  tran- 
sition during  which  the  Spirit  in  the  community 
"took  of  the  things  of  Christ  and  showed"  their 
inner  meaning,  through  actual  experience,  to  its 
most  sensitive  members.  The  main  crises  in  this 
process  of  interpretative  revelation  and  the  chief 
persons  concerned  have  come  before  us,  and  the 
result  so  far  is  embodied  in  the  provisional  solution 
found  in  the  Jerusalem  Concordat.  What  helped 
men  to  be  satisfied  with  something  so  provisional, 
was  a  common  expectation  of  their  Lord's  Return  in 
royal  power  and  majesty.  In  view  of  this,  a  fair 
modus  vivendi  was  all  that  was  absolutely  needful — 
a  remark  which  has  manifold  applications  to  the 
whole  practical  side  of  Christian  life  in  the  Apostolic 
Age.  Hence  "  from  this  time  forward  the  two  sides 
of  our  Lord's  teaching  and  action  in  respect  of  the 
Law  were  both  for  a  while  embodied  in  living  socie- 


And  its   Gravity.  91 

ties  of  men.  The  fulfilment  of  the  Law,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  observance  of  its  letter,  was  now 
the  exclusive  ideal  of  the  Gentile  Church,  which  in 
most  places  had  doubtless  in  the  first  age  a  kernel  of 
Jewish  converts,  and  which  in  all  ages  was  to  rest 
on  the  old  foundations  of  Israel  and  to  find  guidance 
in  its  Scriptures,  but  was  henceforth  not  under  a  law 
but  under  grace.  How  this  was  to  be  done  was  a 
terribly  difficult  problem,  never  perhaps  distinctly 
contemplated  by  any  large  body  of  Christians,  and 
still  but  partially  solved."  It  is  in  this  connection 
that  the  services  of  St.  Paul  stand  forth  in  all  their 
colossal  grandeur.  As  for  the  Jewish  section  of  the 
Church,  "  the  legal  question  led  up  to  questions  of 
the  highest  theology."  For,  "  to  have  recognized  the 
equal  validity  of  a  Christianity  not  bound  by  the 
Law,  could  not  but  react  on  men's  thoughts  on  their 
own  relation  to  the  Law  and  on  Him  who  was  the 
common  object  of  faith  to  Jewish  and  to  Gentile 
Christians."  Nevertheless  "  till  the  voice  of  God 
was  heard  in  quite  other  accents,  a  Palestinian 
Church  could  not  but  be  more  or  less  a  Judaic 
Church.  This  temporary  duality  within  Christianity 
is  constantly  overlooked  or  misunderstood  ;  "  yet  it 
was  inevitable.  '  And  a  tempering  influence  was 
found  in  the  Christianized  Dispersion,  whose  type  of 
piety  must  have  stood  half-way  between  Jewish  and 
Gentile  Christendom. 

'See  Hort,  Judaistic  Christianity,  82  f.,  cf.  13-38 ;  also  below, 
p.  218  ff.  for  James'  type  of  Judseo-Christianity. 


s 

^ 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  FIRST   EUROPEAN   MISSION   (Acts  XV.  36- 

xviii.  22). 

OT  long  after  the  events  just  narrated 
Paul,  feeling  that  things  were  once  more 
in  a  satisfactory  way  at  Antioch,  pro- 
posed to  Barnabas  a  visit  of  inspection 
to  the  churches  founded  on  their  former 
journey.  Barnabas  agreed  but  insisted  on  John 
Mark  being  one  of  the  party.  To  this  Paul  demurred 
on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  be  fully  relied 
on  for  such  work,  in  view  of  his  former  desertion  of 
his  leaders.  But  Barnabas  was  sensitive  for  his  rel- 
ative's reputation,  and  pressed  his  view  so  strongly 
that  a  joint  visitation  became  impossible ;  and  each 
undertook  that  part  of  the  field  in  which  he  was 
most  at  home.  And  so  Barnabas  took  Mark  and 
sailed  for  his  native  Cyprus,  where  the  mists  of  tra- 
dition close  around  him  :  and  Paul  on  the  other  hand 
chose  Silas  (who  as  a  Roman  citizen  (xvi.  37)  must 
have  had  kindred  sympathies)  for  his  colleague,  and 
went  forth  followed  by  the  prayers  of  the  brethren. 
Their  course  lay  through  Syria  and  Cilicia ;  and  as 
they  went  they  stablished  the  faith  of  the  churches 
there,  whose  existence  is  implied  in  the  Jerusalem 
Letter  (xv.  23).  It  is  probable  that  this  "stablish- 
ing  "  was  in  the  freedom  of  the  Gospel,  and  that  in 
fact  'they  followed  up  the  news  of  the  letter  itself, 

92 


Timothy  Joins  Paul.  93 

which  had  no  doubt  already  reached  these  churches. 
But  iu  any  case  it  is  interesting  to  remember  that 
this  was  the  region,  especially  the  Cilician  part  of  it, 
in  which  Paul  had  done  the  bulk  of  his  early  evan- 
gelistic work  extending  over  several  years  at  least ; 
though  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  either  that  it 
was  numerically  great  or  that  it  affected  a  large  pro- 
portion of  Gentiles.  And  so  our  attention  is  hur- 
ried forward  to  facts  of  more  significance  for  the 
theme  of  Acts,  the  turning-points  and  prime  agents 
in  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  from  Jerusalem,  and  its 
limited  horizon,  to  Rome,  with  its  cosmopolitan  out- 
look. 

The  first  typical  event  of  the  journey  was  the  ad- 
dition of  a  new  member  to  Paul's  inner  circle,  and 
the  illustration  it  affords  of  his  large  considerateness 
toward  Jewish  sensibilities,  wherever  these  did  not 
jeopardize  evangelic  principle.  Having  visited  Derbe, 
they  in  due  course  reached  Lystra,  where  dwelt  a  young 
disciple  named  Timothy,  a  Jew  on  his  mother's  side, 
a  Greek  on  his  father's.  He  had  an  excellent  record 
among  the  brethren,  not  only  in  Lystra,  but  also  in 
Iconium,  its  nearest  neighbor ;  and  Paul  saw  in  him 
the  promise  of  yet  greater  things.  Accordingly  he 
determined  to  add  him  to  his  staff,  possibly  to  replace 
John  Mark.  But  to  take  a  half -Jew,  who  had  never 
been  circumcised  (probably  through  his  father's  op- 
position to  begin  with),  through  the  regions  that  lay 
on  his  route  would  be  to  stir  afresh  the  embers  of  a 
conflict  which  had  only  just  subsided.  There  was 
nothing  for  it  but  to  get  his  consent  to  conform  to 
the  law  of  his  birth  on  his  mother's  side,  as  could  be 


94  The  Apostolic  Age. 

done  without  surrender  of  essential  principle,  while 
the  motive  was  a  high  and  generous  one.  Hence, 
Timothy  could  say  like  Paul  himself,  "  I  became  to 
the  Jews  as  a  Jew,  that  I  might  gain  Jews."  He 
chose  to  recognize  his  Jewish  nationality — which  was 
about  as  much  as  Jewish  sentiment  in  many  parts  of 
the  Empire  cared  for  :  while  he  did  not  profess  to 
adopt  the  Judaizing  interpretation  of  its  obligations 
as  regards  intercourse  with  Gentile  brethren.  This 
done,  his  presence  had  no  tendency  to  neutralize  the 
conciliatory  effect  of  the  Jerusalem  Concordat, 
which  Paul  and  Silas  communicated  to  the  churches 
as  they  passed.  Its  tenor  would  cause  them  to  go 
forward  with  settled  assurance  after  the  agitating 
experiences  of  the  Judaizing  propaganda  and  the 
drastic  corrective  of  Paul's  letter  to  them  in  reply. l 
It  so  happens  that  we  have  a  glimpse  of  the  actual 
service  at  which  Timothy  was  set  apart  for  his 
special  ministry.  It  is  preserved  for  us  in  Paul's 
letters  to  him,  when,  years  after,  he  bade  Timothy 
be  strong  to  stand  alone  in  a  position  of  difficulty 
and  responsibility.  He  is  reminding  him  of  those 
first  days  of  high  promise,  and  of  nascent  spiritual  gifts 
brought  to  full  expression  and  power  under  condi- 
tions of  great  sacredness,  amid  the  assembly  of  dear 
brethren  in  his  home  church.  "  This  charge,"  says 
the  Apostle,  "  I  commit  to  thee,  my  child  Timothy, 
according  to  the  prophecies  which  led  the  way  to 

'Surely,  after  such  "  strengthening  in  their  faith  "  as  the  concor- 
dat and  PauVs  comments  thereon  must  have  brought  these  Gala- 
tians,  it  is  incredible  that  they  should  have  speedily  fallen  a  prey 
to  the  Jewish  propaganda  reflected  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 


Timothy' 's  Special  Gift.  95 

thee,  that  in  them  (*.  e.,  in  their  power)  thou  mayest 
war  the  good  warfare."  The  meaning  of  these 
words  may  best  be  illustrated  by  the  conditions  lead- 
ing up  to  the  setting  apart  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  to 
their  mission-journey.  So  intimations  from  God, 
whether  through  Paul  and  Silas  or  through  local 
"  prophets,"  would  point  to  Timothy,  saying  virtually, 
"  Separate  for  me  Timothy  to  the  work  whereunto  I 
have  called  him."  Here,  too,  the  separation  would 
naturally  take  outward  form  in  fasting,  and  prayer, 
and  laying  on  of  hands  by  the  representatives  of  the 
local  Church,  as  at  Antioch  (Acts  xiii.  3).  "  In  this 
case,  however,"  says  Dr.  Hort,  "one  additional  ele- 
ment would  be  present,  namely  the  special  relation 
in  which  St.  Paul  stood  to  Timothy  " — as  his  father 
in  faith.  And  to  both  these  things  Paul  alludes  in 
pointing  back  to  that  solemn  season  when  the  special 
divine  gift  {charisma),  to  which  the  prophecies  re- 
lated, came  into  manifest  play.  The  gift  was  one 
fitting  Timothy  for  his  distinctive  mission,  that  of  a 
missionary  or  evangelist  of  high  order;  and  was 
doubtless  rooted  in  the  soil  of  his  godly  training  un- 
der his  grandmother  Lois  and  his  mother  Eunice.1 

Thus  equipped,  Timothy  stepped  forth  upon  that 
associate  ministry  of  which  St.  Paul's  Epistles  bear 
not  infrequent  traces,  during  the  period  of  apostolate 
around  the  shores  of  the  iEgean  Sea  upon  which  he 
himself  was  about  to  enter. 

Their  route  lay  through  the  Phrygio-Galatian 
region,  the  somewhat  indeterminate  borderland  just 
beyond  the  confines  of  the  Roman  Province  of  Asia, 
•See  1  Tim.  i.  18;  iv.  14;  2  Tim.  i.  6. 


.  96  The  Apostolic  Aye. 


in  which  they  felt  prevented  by  some  divine  guid- 
ance from  beginning  fresh  evangelistic  work.  Their 
idea  now  was  to  enter  the  northwesterly  province  of 
Bithynia.  And  this  they  essayed  to  do  about  the  point 
where  the  eastern  side  of  Mysia  (part  of  "  Asia  ") 
intersects  the  Bithynian  border.  But  here  again 
they  were  checked  by  "  the  Spirit  of  Jesus,"  and  so 
shut  up  to  bearing  westward  through  Mysia,  until 
they  came  down  to  the  great  harbor  of  Alexandria 
Troas.  Since  leaving  the  Galatian  Churches  their 
movements  had  been  like  the  accelerated  course  of  a 
river  confined  between  narrow  banks,  ere  it  seeks 
with  a  plunge  its  new  level  and  opens  out  once  more 
into  greater  breadth  amid  a  fresh  landscape.  It  was 
at  Troas,  then,  that  the  plunge  took  place ;  when, 
through  the  medium  of  a  night-vision,  in  which  a 
certain  Macedonian  stood  beckoning  and  saying, 
"  come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us,"  Paul 
was  persuaded  that  the  anxiously  looked-for  word  of 
command  had  at  length  been  given.  Then  follow 
the  remarkable  words,  "  and  when  he  had  seen  the 
vision,  straightway  we  sought  to  go  forth  into  Mace- 
donia, concluding  that  '  God  has  summoned  us  to 
evangelize  them. ' "  Here  the  first  person  plural, 
which  henceforth  crops  up  at  various  points,  warns 
us  that  the  party  has  been  reinforced  by  a  new  mem- 
ber,1 and  that  none  other  than  the  author  of  the 

1  Ramsay  makes  out  a  strong  circumstantial  case  for  the  original  of 
the  figure  in  the  vision  being  a  special  Macedonian  already  known 
to  Paul.  "There  was  nothing  distinctive  in  the  dress  of  a  Mace- 
donian [as  such]  to  mark  him  out  from  the  rest  of  the  world  "; 
while  the  form  of  the  Greek  words  (avijp  Ma/cedcov  rig)  seems  to 
imply  a  definite  individual.     If  this  be  granted,  there  is  no  reason 


Philippi.  97 

present  narrative,  and  apparently  also  of  the  whole 
work  in  which  the  "  we  "  sections  form  the  bulk  of 
the  latter  part. 

The  harbor  of  Troas  was  a  main  link  between  Asia 
and  Macedonia,  which  we  are  not  to  think  of  as 
adjacent  parts  of  two  continents  so  much  as  of 
sister  provinces  closely  united  by  the  easy  pathway 
of  the  sea.  Luke  "  has  the  true  Greek  feeling  for 
the  sea,"  and  so  on  this  as  on  other  occasions 
"records  the  incidents  from  harbor  to  harbor." 

From  Troas  they  made  a  straight  run  to  the  island 
of  Samothrace,  and  on  the  day  following  came  to 
anchor  at  Neapolis,  the  port  whence  the  road  led  in- 
land to  Philippi.  This  city,  we  are  told  with  a 
touch  of  local  knowledge  and  perhaps  of  local  pride, 
was  the  leading  city  of  its  division  of  Macedonia,1 
and  in  status  a  Roman  Colonia.  Here  the  party  made 
some  stay,  though  not  for  so  long  as  they  themselves 
would  have  wished.  Their  Gospel  gained  its  first 
footing,  as  usual,  where  the  soil  had  been  prepared 
by  Judaism.  In  this  case  the  scene  of  their  first 
preaching  was  the  praying-place  (Proseuche),  in 
default  of  a  synagogue,  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
outside  the  city.     Their  audience  was  mostly  com- 

for  refusing  to  identify  such  an  one  with  Luke  himself,  who  had 
some  connection  with  Philippi,  though  he  may  have  been  then 
plying  his  profession  of  physician  in  Troas.  But  the  immediate 
association  of  himself  with  the  call  to  evangelize  the  Macedonians 
argues  him  already  a  Christian  of  some  experience. 

'Its  rival  to  the  title  of  "First"  was  Amphipolis;  and  Luke's 
statement  is  perhaps  truer  to  the  date  of  his  writing  than  to  that 
of  the  actual  moment  of  Paul's  visit,  when  Philippi  was  first  in 
its  own  opinion  rather  than  by  general  consent. 
G 


98  The  Apostolic  Age. 

posed  of  women  ;  and  among  them  was  a  prosely- 
tess,  a  native  of  Thyatira  and  an  agent  for  the 
purple  dyed  garments  for  which  the  district  of  Lydia 
was  famed.  Deriving  her  name  from  her  country, 
Lydia,  who  was  probably  a  widow  living  in  the 
honorable  freedom  which  marked  women  both  in 
Asia  Minor  and  Macedonia,  must  have  been  a  house- 
holder of  some  substance.  Accordingly,  proving 
herself  a  receptive  bearer  from  the  first,  after  she 
and  hers  were  baptized,  she  insisted  on  Paul  and  his 
party  becoming  her  guests.  And  in  this  connection 
it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  when  Paul  wrote  to 
the  Philippians  some  twelve  years  later,  women  were 
still  prominent  in  the  service  of  the  Church  (iv.  2). 
One  day,  when  on  their  way  to  the  proseuch'e,  the 
party  was  met  by  a  slave -girl  possessed  of  a  sooth- 
saying spirit,  which  brought  her  owners  large 
receipts.  Her  unstrung  mind,  rendered  the  more 
abnormal  by  her  very  belief  in  its  own  supernatural 
possession,  was  hyper-acute  in  its  perceptions,  es- 
pecially as  regards  the  moral  magnetism  of  strong 
personalities.  She  felt  strangely  moved  by  the  prox- 
imity of  these  men  of  faith,  and  followed  them 
vaguely  ejaculating  her  impressions.  And  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  title,  "  God  the  Highest  "  {Hypsistos), 
of  which  she  made  use  in  expressing  her  sense  of 
their  divine  call  to  declare  "a  Way  of  Salvation," 
is  one  known  to  have  been  in  wide  use  on  both  sides 
of  the  Bosphorus.  This  lasted  over  a  period  of  many 
days :  until  at  length,  Paul  in  vexation  turned  and 
adjured  the  spirit  in  the  name  of  his  Master  to  leave 
her.    His  words  told  straightway  :  with  the  result  that 


Imprisonment  and  Release.  99 

forthwith  the  owners,  in  chagrin  at  their  loss,  hurried 
Paul  and  Silas  to  the  market-place  and  before  the 
magistrates,  who  were  here  locally  and  by  courtesy 
styled  praetors.  Little  could  have  been  made  of  a 
complaint  touching  what  had  actually  occurred  :  and 
so,  utilizing  the  general  suspicion  of  Jews,  they 
lodged  a  vague  charge  of  disturbance  to  the  peace  and 
order  of  the  city,  and  of  inculcating  anti-Roman 
usages.  The  latter  point,  which  might  be  construed 
to  amount  to  treason,  was  skilfully  chosen  in  a 
Roman  colony.  It  was  one  on  which  it  was  the  in- 
terest of  local  magistrates  to  exhibit  the  greatest 
sensitiveness.  So  while  the  mob  was  roused  against 
the  defendants  on  both  counts,  the  prcetors  rent  their 
garments  in  loyal  horror,  and  showed  their  zeal  by 
ordering  them  to  be  scourged.  Aud  the  fact  that 
the  order  was  executed  before  their  protest,  that 
they  were  Roman  citizens,  and  as  such  exempt  from 
the  degradation,  could  gain  attention,  suggests  the 
tumultuary  nature  of  the  whole  proceedings.  This 
is  further  borne  out  by  the  way  in  which  the  magis- 
trates tried  shamefacedly  to  get  rid  of  them  quietly 
on  the  morrow. 

The  story  of  their  imprisonment  under  the  hardest 
conditions,  of  their  joyous  fortitude,  of  the  earth- 
quake and  the  jailer's  awakening  in  that  time  of 
fear,  of  the  conversion  of  himself  and  his  household 
which  followed — all  this  needs  no  retelling.1  Next 
morning  the  magistrates  rather  lamely  sent  to  order 
their  release.  Paul,  however,  would  not  accept  this 
without  some  amends  made  for  the  illegal  step  of 
'Several  points  of  detail  are  treated  in  Ramsay's  »Sft.  Paul,  220  ff. 


100  The  Apostolic  Age. 

punishing  men,  and  those  Roman  citizens,  before 
their  case  had  been  investigated  {re  incognita,  see 
Ramsay,  225).  So  the  praetors  have  to  come  apolo- 
getically and  beg  them — probably  in  distrust  of  their 
own  ability  to  keep  order,  should  difficulty  again 
occur — to  leave  the  city.  This  they  did,  after  visit- 
ing Lydia's  house  and  exhorting  the  brethren,  who 
most  likely  continued  to  meet  there  subsequently 
for  fellowship.  The  whole  account  of  these  troubles 
at  Philippi  is  couched  in  the  third  person  :  probably 
the  eyewitness  was  not  himself  directly  involved  ; 
and  as  the  first  person  is  not  resumed,  he  may  have 
remained  behind  to  take  the  lead  among  the  con- 
verts.1 Yet  the  narrative  does  not  seem  to  suffer 
much  in  vividness  and  accuracy,  at  least  in  certain 
parts,  like  the  account  of  Paul  in  Athens.  And  as 
it  keeps  closely  to  Paul  even  when  Silas  and  Timothy 
are  absent,  one  may  conjecture  that  it  goes  back  to 
notes  by  his  personal  attendant,  possibly  Titus. 

The  road  now  taken  was  the  Via  Egnatia,  which 
lay  through  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia:2  but  noth- 
ing of  moment  occurred  until  they  reached  Thessa- 
lonica,  a  free  city,  where  was  a  synagogue  of  the 
Jews.     Hither,    as  was    his   wont,    Paul    made   his 

1  Cf.  2.  Cor.  viii.  18,  where  with  Titus  is  sent  from  Macedonia 
to  Corinth,  in  connection  with  the  collection  for  Jerusalem,  "the 
brother  whose  praise  in  the  Evangel  extends  through  all  the 
Churches,"  in  whom  many  see  Luke. 

2  The  fact  that  these  cities  are  named  at  all  rather  suggests  that 
some  converts  were  made  there.  And  that  Acts  relates  only  part, 
the  most  typical  part,  of  the  Macedonian  Mission  seems  proved 
by  the  broad  terms  of  certain  references  to  believers  in  that 
quarter  (1  Thess.  i.  7;  iv.  10)  and  to  the  "  Churches  of  Mace- 
donia "  a  little  later  (2  Cor.  viii.  1 ;  cf.  Phil.  iv.  15). 


Troubles  at  Thessalonica.  101 

way,  and  for  three  Sabbaths  discussed  with  them 
from  the  Scriptures :  opening  out  their  meaning  and 
quoting  them  to  prove  that  it  was  proper  for  the 
Messiah  to  suffer  and  rise  again  from  among  the 
dead  (cf.  1  Cor.  xv.  3,  4),  and  that  "  the  Messiah  is 
this  man,  the  very  Jesus  whom  I  am  proclaiming  to 
you."  Some  of  these  Jews  believed  and  attached 
themselves  to  Paul  and  Silas ;  as  did  also  ere  long  a 
large  body  of  Greeks  more  or  less  influenced  by  the 
synagogue,  and  not  a  few  of  the  leading  women.1 
The  larger  work  (1  Thess.  i.  8,  9),  mainly  subsequent 
to  the  three  Sabbaths  above  named,  must  have 
covered  some  weeks  at  least,  to  judge  both  by  the 
language  of  1  Thess.  i.-ii.,  and  the  reference  to 
material  help  more  than  once  received  from  Philippi 
(Phil.  iv.  16)  to  supplement  Paul's  own  earnings 
(1  Thess.  ii.  9)  during  the  season  in  question.  Ulti- 
mately Jewish  jealousy  found  vent,  through  an 
alliance  with  the  dregs  of  the  market  place.  A  riot 
was  got  up  :  the  house  of  Jason,  a  Jew  (cf.  Rom.  xvi. 
21)  with  whom  the  Apostles  were  staying,  was  as- 
saulted:  and  when  they  failed  to  find  the  prey,  they 
solaced  themselves  by  hauling  Jason  and  certain 
brethren  before  the  local  magistrates,  correctly  styled 
Politarchs.  Their  cry  was  :  "  They  who  have  turned 
the  civilized  world  upside  down, 2  these  have  come 

1  Ramsay  (p.  227)  would  here  follow  the  weaker  MSS.,  in  order 
to  set  a  more  explicit  reference  to  the  heathen  antecedents  of  the 
bulk  of  the  converts,  as  implied  in  1  Thess.  i.  9  ;  ii.  14.  Prob- 
ably needlessly,  as  Luke  is  emphasizing  as  usual  the  Jewish 
beginnings,  and  had  not  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  early  days 
of  the  Thessalonian  Church. 

4  A  phrase  possibly  implying  widespread,  if  vague,  rumors 
about  the  Christians. 


102  The  Apostolic  Age. 

hither  also :  and  Jason  hath  taken  them  in.  And  these, 
one  and  all,  are  acting  in  the  teeth  of  Caesar's  laws, 
alleging  that  there  is  another  Emperor,1  Jesus."  Such 
charges  upset  both  the  crowd  and  the  politarchs,  who 
took  securities  for  good  behavior  from  Jason  and  the 
others  before  letting  them  go.  How  serious  was  the 
danger  and  how  severe  the  persecutions  which  en- 
sued for  the  converts,  we  gather  from  Paul's  own 
words  in  1  Thess.  i.-ii.  The  only  thing  to  do  was  to 
send  Paul  and  Silas  away  by  night,  and  to  hope  that 
they  might  be  able  to  return  quietly  ere  long.  That 
Paul  cherished  this  plan  he  tells  us  explicitly  in 
1  Thess.  ii.  18,  adding  that  on  two  several  occasions 
he  was  balked  by  Satan,  words  behind  which  the  pre- 
ceding context  would  lead  us  to  suspect  some  spe- 
cially malignant  Jewish  devices. 

Meantime  he  began  work  in  the  synagogue  at 
Bercea,  which  lay  to  the  southwest  and  still  in  Mace- 
donia. Here  the  Jews  behaved  more  nobly  than  in 
Thessalonica,  being  more  ingenuously  minded  to- 
ward the  Scripture  proofs  alleged,  and  not  suffering 
the  sight  of  the  many  Gentile  converts  both  from 
among  the  men  and  the  well-born  Greek  ladies  to 
hinder  conviction.  But  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica 
would  not  let  Paul  alone,  and  began  to  stir  up 
trouble  for  him  here  also.  The  brethren,  however, 
sent  the  prime  actor  betimes  down  to  the  seacoast,2 

1  A  charge  due  to  the  Jews,  who  alone  would  understand  the 
kingly  aspect  of  Messiahship. 

sThessaly  though  now  part  of  Macedonia  was  less  Romanized 
than  the  region  Paul  was  leaving.  Can  it  be  that  Paul  had  some 
thought  of  returning  by  ship  to  Thessalonica  (cf.  1  Thess.  ii.  18), 
but  found  bis  way  barred,  and  so  went  on  to  Athens? 


Paul  at  Athens.  103 


while  Silas  and  Timothy  were  able  to  remain  to  con- 
solidate what  had  been  done.  Once  Athens  was 
reached,  Paul  seems  to  have  sent  for  his  companions 
to  join  him,  probably  in  order  to  relieve  his  mind  by 
fresh  news  and  to  take  counsel  how  best  to  help  the 
much-tried  converts  in  Thessalonica  in  particular. 
This  we  gather  from  1  Thess.  ii.  17-iii.  5,  which 
lets  us  see  the  anxious  workings  of  the  Apostle's 
loving  heart  and  at  the  same  time  supplements  the 
course  of  events  in  Acts.  For  while  it  is  doubtful 
whether  Silas  was  able  to  leave  Bercea  at  once  (1 
Thess.  iii.  1,  2),  Timothy  clearly  obeyed  the  sum- 
mons, and  was  sent  back  to  Thessalonica  to  cheer 
the  brethren  and  to  report  their  state.  This  he  was 
able  to  do  later  in  terms  that  gladdened  Paul's  heart 
(iii.  6-10). 

But  before  Timothy's  arrival,1  Paul  had  been 
stirred,  even  amid  his  deep  anxiety,  by  the  sight  of 
the  idolatrous  appearance  of  Athens ;  and  feeling 
he  must  open  his  mouth,  he  began  to  discuss  in  the 
synagogue  with  the  Jews  and  the  non-Jewish  ad- 
herents, as  also  in  the  Agora  with  any  chance  com- 
ers. In  so  doing  he  encountered  certain  Epicurean 
and  Stoic  philosophers,  some  of  whom  began  to  say 
to  each  other  in  supercilious  astonishment,  "  What 

1  Acts  xvii.  16;  but  during  the  activity  described  in  v.  17, 
Timothy  probably  came  and  went  again.  For  Timothy  cannot 
have  been  so  long  in  fulfilling  the  behest  of  xvii.  15  as  would  be 
involved  in  making  xviii.  5  describe  his  first  reunion  with  Paul. 
Dr.  Rendel  Harris  believes  that  Timothy  carried  a  (lost)  letter  to 
Thessalonica  and  brought  back  one  in  reply,  the  sentiments  of 
which  are  echoed  in  1  Thess.  {Expositor,  Sept.  1898). 


104  The  Apostolic  Age. 

would  this  ignorant  tattler1  beat?"  And  others, 
"  He  appears  to  be  a  setter  forth  of  foreign  divini- 
ties " :  since  he  was  telling  the  good  news  of  Jesus 
and  of  the  Resurrection.  This  mistaken  personifica- 
tion of  "  the  resurrection,"  as  if  it  were  some  mys- 
tical entity,  is  wholly  true  to  Paul's  emphasis  on  it, 
not  merely  as  a  fact  in  Christ's  history,  but  also  as 
something  having  a  bearing  on  the  spiritual  expe- 
rience of  those  who  by  faith  become  one  with  Him. 
The  picture  here,  as  in  the  ensuing  scene,  is  (as 
Ramsay  has  admirably  shown)  very  characteristic  of 
Athenian  life.  "Luke  places  before  us  the  man  who 
became  '  all  things  to  all  men,'  and  who  therefore  in 
Athens  made  himself  like  an  Athenian  and  adopted 
the  regular  Socratic  style  of  general  free  discussion 
in  the  Agora."  In  thinking  of  Paul  in  Athens,  it  is 
useful  to  remember  that  his  native  Tarsus  was  then 
a  great  centre  of  academic  culture,  and  that  hence 
this  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  breathed  the  at- 
mosphere of  a  University  city.  "The  mere  Jew 
could  never  have  assumed  the  Attic  tone  as  Paul 
did."  Yet  that  we  are  here  dealing  with  no  ideal- 
ized picture,  is  shown  by  the  simple  fact  that  instead 
of  making  the  Apostle  proceed  as  a  matter  of  course 
to  break  a  lance  with  false  philosophy,  the  historian 
informs  us  that  Paul  originally  intended  only  to  wait 
at  Athens  for  news  ;  and  that  the  duty  of  speech  was 
forced  on  him  by  sheer  religious  indignation  and 
pity,  as  the  practical  idolatry  of  the  place  grew  upon 

1  Spermologos,  "a  crude  plagiarist,"  "a  retailer  of  odds  and 
ends,"  was  probably  Athenian  slang  for  one  "out  of  it"  as  re- 
gards genuine  culture. 


Paul  on  Mars'  Hill.  105 

him.  But  once  drawn  into  the  work,  he  adjusted 
himself  to  local  conditions  with  his  wonted  versatility. 

The  upshot  of  his  informal  discussion  with  the 
philosophers  in  that  open  air  university,  the  Athe- 
nian Agora,  where  the  chief  interest  of  citizens  and 
foreigners  alike  was  "  to  say  or  hear  something  new" 
and  smart,  was  the  highly  dramatic  "  Address  on 
Mars'  Hill." 

We  need  not  be  surprised  at  this.  The  initial 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  a  clear  understanding  were 
enormous,  where  men's  antecedents  differed  so 
widely.  And  when  we  remember  that  some  of 
Paul's  hearers  may  have  only  caught  scraps  of  in- 
formal conversation,  to  which  they  had  not  the  key, 
it  was  no  wonder  that  opinions  were  divided  as  to 
the  calibre  of  the  speaker  and  as  to  the  drift  of  his 
meaning.  It  was  natural  then  that  an  effort  should 
be  made  to  at  least  master  what  the  man  meant  to 
say  in  some  connected  fashion.  This,  the  historian  is 
careful  to  remind  us,  did  not  imply  any  serious  con- 
cern with  the  end  he  had  in  view  :  it  was  a  new  in- 
tellectual sensation  with  which  to  while  away  the 
time.  And  so  they  lay  hold  on  Paul  and  lead  him 
off  to  a  spot  where  a  connected  declamation,  after 
the  fashion  of  itinerant  philosophic  rhetoricians,1  was 

1  Such  "  displays  "  (epideixcis)  were  a  feature  of  the  culture  of  the 
age  (Hatch's  Hibbert  Lectures,  ii.  and  i  v.).  I  cannot  follow  Ramsay 
in  making  this  an  ordeal  before  the  Council  of  Areopagus,  to  test 
Paul's  qualifications  and  character  as  an  authorized  teacher. 
There  is  no  a  priori  difficulty  about  Areopagus  in  the  sense  of  the 
Court :  but  there  is  also  no  trace,  either  in  what  precedes  or  in 
what  follows  (vv.  32,  33)  the  Speech,  that  anything  more  than 
personal  and  unofficial  curiosity  was  being  gratified.  Nothing 
happens. 


106  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

feasible.  The  distractions  of  the  Agora  are  left  be- 
hind, and  the  quiet  Hill  is  gained.  And  there,  in 
the  very  midst  of  Athens,  its  sights  and  its  tradi- 
tions, Paul  stood  forth  to  expound  his  "new  teach- 
ing," his  audience  embracing  not  only  the  philoso- 
phers themselves  but  also  an  outer  circle,  so  easily 
gathered  in  the  city  where  leisure  was  abundant  and 
the  taste  for  intellectual  novelty  universal. 

The  line  taken  was  masterly.  Paul  does  not  in- 
deed view  pagan  belief  and  worship  as  a  modern 
scholar  would,  whose  business  it  is  to  understand 
how  such  things  arise  and  what  idealism  lurks  for 
the  idealist  in  the  sensuous  and  mechanical  forms  of 
ancient  cults.  For  this,  after  all,  is  an  abstract  and 
therefore  unreal  version  of  the  facts,  as  every  Indian 
or  Chinese  missionary  will  testify  in  relation  to  the 
religions  that  confront  him.  And  Paul  saw  with  the 
eye  of  the  missionary,  the  man  to  whom  sin  is  the 
one  supreme  problem  and  deliverance  therefrom  the 
real  business  of  religion.  Yet  his  attitude  was  a 
really  sympathetic  one.  Hollowness  and  moral  im- 
potence, if  not  worse,  marked  actual  "  idolatry  "  as  a 
system  :  and  he  felt  a  passionate  pity  for  the  souls  of 
men  blinded  thereby  and  prevented  from  feeling  to 
the  full  their  real  need.  He  saw  behind  the  results 
to  the  groping  that  gave  even  superstitious  rites  a 
pathetic  dignity  amid  all  their  triviality  and  routine: 
and  he  tried  to  meet  the  soul  of  paganism  halfway, 
coming  to  it  in  its  twilight  and  so  gradually  leading 
it  onward  as  it  could  bear  it.  "  The  popular  philoso- 
phy inclined  toward  pantheism,  the  popular  religion 
was  polytheistic ;  but  Paul  starts  from  the  simplest 


Slight  Effect  of  His  Speech.  107 

platform  common  to  both.  There  exists  something 
in  the  way  of  a  divine  nature  which  the  religious 
try  to  please  and  the  philosophers  try  to  under- 
stand." And  to  this  he  boldly  appeals.  "  Men  of 
Athens,"  he  began,  "  I  observe  that  you  are  in  all 
respects  unusually  given  over  to  the  worship  of 
divinities :  for  as  I  was  going  through  your  city  and 
surveying  the  monuments  of  your  devotion,  I  came 
also  upon  an  altar  with  the  inscription  '  To  (an)  Un- 
hxoivn  God.''  That  divine  nature,  then,  which  you 
worship,  not  knowing  what  it  is,  that  am  I  setting 
forth  to  you."  And  so  he  proceeds  to  utter  in  lofty 
language  the  profoundest  ideas  of  natural  theology, 
pressing  into  the  service  not  only  the  deeper  intui- 
tions of  the  Stoics  as  to  the  immanent  presence  of 
the  Divine  in  and  with  the  human,  but  even  a  fine, 
if  familiar,  maxim  of  the  Greek  poets— "for  even 
His  offspring  are  we."  Then  casting  a  glance  back 
from  these  higher  levels,  in  order  to  shame  by  con- 
trast the  crude  materialism  of  tire  current  cults,  he 
proceeds  to  the  thought  of  a  climax  toward  which 
God  in  providence  has  been  leading  up,  and  wherein 
revelation  breaks  forth  decisively  and  in  universal 
form,  in  the  person  of  a  Man  in  whom  the  condi- 
tions of  repentance  unto  righteousness  are  fully 
realized.  In  him,  then,  a  world-wide  judgment  is 
rendered  possible ;  and  his  designation  to  this  dignity 
is  proved  to  all  by  his  having  been  raised  from  the 
dead. 

But  at  this,  the  thought  of  a  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  his  audience  broke  in,  some  with  scoffs,  some 
with  the  evasive  remark  that  they  would  hear  him 


108  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

further  on  the  point  another  day.  They  had  actually 
heard  enough  for  their  purpose.  They  had  "  taken 
the  measure  of  their  man,"  and  were  satisfied  that 
their  first  impressions  were  right:  that  he  had  no 
plausible  "  wisdom,"  couched  in  fine  suggestive 
phrases,  to  impart,  but  was  in  fact  a  religious 
enthusiast. 

He  too  had  taken  their  measure,  and,  what  was  of 
yet  greater  significance,  had  gained  experience  as  to 
how  not  to  approach  men  such  as  these  typical 
Greeks,  priding  themselves  in  verbal  wisdom,  and 
unawakened  to  the  soul's  tragedy  of  sin,  bondage, 
and  emancipation.  And  the  fruits  of  this  lesson 
will  be  seen  in  his  policy  from  the  first  at  Corinth. 
Yet  a  few  did  respond,  heart  to  heart,  even  in 
Athens,1  though  the  fact  is  intimated  in  such  a  way 
as  to  enforce  the  contrast  with  the  simpler  Mace- 
donians. One  man  of  some  standing  is  named.  But 
there  are  no  "  women  of  good  birth " ;  only  one 
whose  name  indicates  obscure,  possibly  foreign  origin. 
And  it  is  well  known  that  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Athens  is  a  blank  to  us  till  two  or  three  genera- 
tions have  passed.  "  Which  things  are  a  parable." 
For  "  boasting  is  excluded,"  whether  that  of  Pharisaic 
self-sufficiency  or  that  of  shallow  intellectualism. 

Soon  after,  Paul  left  Athens, — apparently  re- 
linquishing his  original  purpose,  which  was  there  to 

1  Athens  was  a  free,  allied  city-state,  first  of  a  number  scattered 
throughout  the  proviuce  of  Achsea  but  not  subject  to  its  provincial 
authorities.  Hence  "the  household  of  Stephanas"  was  in  fact 
"  the  first-fruits  of  Achsea  "(1  Cor.  xvi.  15).  There  was  a  "  Union 
(xoivbv)  of  the  Achseans"  embracing  most  of  Greece  south  of 
Thermopylae,  but  excluding  Athens,  Sparta,  and  other  free  states. 


Corinth,  and  the  Thessalonian  Letters.        109 

await  Timothy  to  see  whether  the  way  was  open  for 
his  return  to  Thessalonica — and  went  on  to  Corinth, 
situate  near  the  neck  of  land  between  the  eastern 
and  western  seas,  and  a  place  of  business  and  pleas- 
ure rather  than  of  restless  intellect.  And  here  he 
formed  a  friendship  which  probably  helped  to  turn 
his  eyes  Rome-wards,  somewhat  as  Luke's  presence  at 
Troas  may  have  given  definite  direction  to  the  first 
European  journey.  Aquila,  a  Jew  of  Pontus,  and 
his  wife  Priscilla  were  fresh  arrivals  from  Italy, 
having  left  at  the  first  promulgation  of  Claudius' 
edict  for  expelling  Jews  from  Rome— an  edict  occa- 
sioned by  frequent  rioting  among  them  "  at  the  in- 
stigation of  Chrestus,"  as  the  Roman  writer  Suetonius 
has  it.  It  arose  out  of  friction  due  to  the  preaching 
of  Jesus  as  the  Christ  in  the  Jewish  quarter.  This 
edict  may  be  assigned  to  the  latter  half  of  50  A.  D., 
and  Paul's  arrival  consequently  to  about  the  end  of 
that  year.  It  seems  to  have  been  their  common 
handicraft,  as  tentmakers,  that  caused  Paul  to  share 
their  lodgings.  But  they  may  well  have  met  first  in 
the  synagogue,  where  he  began  to  discourse  every 
Sabbath  and  made  some  converts  among  both  Jews 
and  Greeks.  The  arrival,  however,  of  both  Silas  and 
Timothy  from  Macedonia  marked  a  fresh  epoch  in 
his  preaching.  Whether  it  was  that  all  hope  of  re- 
turning thither  was  now  definitely  postponed,  or  that 
he  was  nerved  by  their  presence  and  the  good  news 
they  brought  of  the  power  of  God  made  manifest 
among  the  Gentiles — or  perhaps  both  combined — at 
any  rate  Paul  felt  the  constraint  of  his  message  yet 
stronger  upon  him,  and  with  yet  greater  earnestness 


110  The  Ajoostolic  Aye. 

delivered  to  the  Jews  his  solemn  testimony  to  the 
Messiahship  of  Jesus.  This  soon  led  to  their  assum- 
ing a  more  set  attitude  of  opposition.  And  as  they 
began  to  blaspheme  the  name  of  Jesus,  Paul  felt 
his  mission  to  them  here  also  was  accomplished,  and 
with  a  protestation  of  his  freedom  from  further  re- 
sponsibility he  turned  directly  to  the  heathen.1  Ac- 
cordingly he  changed  his  place  of  teaching  to  the 
house  of  a  proselyte  named  Titius  Justus,  who  lived 
next  door  to  the  synagogue.  He  was  followed  by 
Crispus  (cf.  1  Cor.  i.  14)  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue, 
who  believed  along  with  all  his  household.  Mean- 
time many  of  the  Corinthians  began  to  hear  and  be- 
lieve and  receive  baptism ;  and  the  importance  of 
the  work  thus  begun  was  emphasized  for  Paul  by  a 
night-vision,  bidding  him  speak  on,  since  his  Lord 
had  "much  people  in  this  city."  Accordingly  he 
settled  down  for  a  stay  which  proved  to  be  one  of 
eighteen  months'  continuous  teaching. 

It  was  soon  after  the  coming  of  Silas  and  Timothy 
that  Paul  wrote  the  first  of  the  two  letters  to  "  the 
Church  composed  of  Thessalonians,"  in  the  name  of 
himself  and  his  two  comrades.  It  is  very  difficult  to 
say  how  much  of  the  first  person  plural,  in  which  it 
is  couched,  is  to  be  taken  literally  rather  than  as  the 
common  device  to  avoid  an  egotistic  tone  (e.g.,  as  in 
iii.  6).     Certain  it  is  that  the  letter  reveals  Paul's 

1  Ramsay  comments  thus:  "The  distinction  between  the 
period  of  work  in  the  synagogue  and  that  of  direct  preaching  to 
the  populace,  is  expressed  with  marked  emphasis  at  Corinth. 
Corinth  stood  on  the  high-road  between  Rome  and  the  East:  and 
was  therefore  one  of  the  greatest  centres  of  influence  in  the  Roman 
world." 


Their  Primitive  Teaching.  Ill 

deeply  emotional  nature,  especially  in  the  earlier 
part,  which  repeats  and  continues,  as  it  were,  his 
personal  intercourse  with  his  converts;  while  it  also 
reflects  with  extraordinary  vividness  his  own  mo- 
ments of  solicitude  and  of  triumphant  gratitude. 
Indeed  these  two  letters  are  hardly  equalled  even 
by  those  to  the  Galatians  and  Corinthians,  in  that 
direct,  easy,  conversational  manner  which  is  the 
peculiar  quality  of  a  genuine  letter,  marking  it  off 
from  the  studied  epistle.  The  former  is  spontaneous, 
poured  forth  to  readers  whose  bodily  absence  is  a 
mere  accident:  the  latter  is  more  self-conscious,  re- 
flective, restrained — in  a  word,  more  literary.  The 
letter  reveals  the  writer  as  man  even  more  than  as 
thinker.  And  for  such  self-revelation,  controlled  by  an 
exquisite  taste  that  stops  short  at  the  right  point  of 
allusiveness  (so  that  we  never  get  the  feeling  that 
the  writer  is  interested  in  himself,  even  where  he  has 
to  be  most  self-assertive) — for  this  mode  of  utterance 
Paul  had  a  genius  that  has  never  been  surpassed. 
His  letters  were  indeed  "  the  lifeblood  of  a  noble 
spirit "  pouring  itself  forth  in  love,  now  solicitous, 
now  exultant.  But  for  the  same  reason  they  present 
us  likewise  with  glimpses  of  his  correspondents'  feel- 
ings and  situation,  which  in  their  photographic  vivid- 
ness and  self-evident  fidelity  are  our  most  precious 
data  for  a  knowledge  of  the  Apostolic  Age,  not  only 
in  its  generality  but  also  in  its  variety  of  local  color 
and  detail. 

And  here  we  have  the  key  to  a  good  many 
problems  in  the  interpretation  of  Paul  and  of  his 
age.    He  wrote  primarily  as  the  prince  of  missionaries 


112  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

rather  than  as  the  theologian.  This  means  that  he 
was  not  engaged  in  developing  a  system  of  thought 
in  logical  order,  but  in  applying  certain  vital  and 
far-reaching  principles  (given  from  the  first  in  his 
own  conversion)  to  the  variety  of  conditions  in 
which  he  found  his  actual  readers.  He  writes  to 
feed  them,  not  to  evolve  his  own  thought.  Hence 
the  wonder  that  has  sometimes  been  expressed  as  to 
the  doctrinal  colorlessness  of  the  Thessalonian  letters, 
the  absence  of  "  the  distinctively  Pauline  Gospel,"  is 
quite  needless.  That  Paul  already  possessed  such  a 
Gospel  is  clear  from  the  Galatian  letter,  which,  even 
assuming  that  it  had  not  already  been  written,  yet 
contains  a  retrospective  passage  (Gal.  ii.  15-21) 
which  goes  back  beyond  the  date  of  his  first  European 
Mission.  And  the  fact  that  he  does  not  here  and 
now  express  himself  in  the  way  referred  to,  proves 
simply  that  he  was  no  theological  partisan  with  a 
"  fixed  idea  "  and  a  monotonous  emphasis,  but  a  wise 
and  loving  missionary.  He  dealt  with  his  converts  as 
a  nurse,  or  as  a  father  with  his  own  children  (1  Thcss. 
ii.  7-11),  adapting  himself  to  their  immediate  needs 
and  capacities.  His  Gospel  was  a  life  rather  than  a 
theory,  however  sublime.  Yet,  even  so,  we  find  his 
emphasis  on  "faith,"  "love,"  and  "hope,"  involved 
in  the  very  texture  of  these  "  primer-epistles  "  of 
Christian  piety  (see  1  Thess.  i.  3  ;  iii.  2,  6, 10).  He  is 
aware  that  there  are  "  things  lacking  "  to  their  faith. 
But  after  all,  their  faith  is  rooted  in  God  as  Father 
and  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  (i.  1) ;  his  Gospel  has 
manifested  itself  in  them  "in  power  and  holy  en- 
thusiasm and  much  assurance  "  (i.  5),  not  merely  in 


Early  Form  of  the   Christian  Hope.  113 

word  ;  and  the  full  test  of  both  is  the  joyous  staying 
power  which  they  have  shown  under  much  perse- 
cution. Hence  the  ringing  note  of  both  letters  is 
the  hope  toward  God  in  Christ  which  meets  their 
pressing  need. 

Accordingly  these  letters  emphasize  an  aspect  of 
Christian  hope,  as  it  existed  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Church's  life,  which  gradually  receded  into  the  back- 
ground as  experience  interpreted  the  ways  of  God 
more  fully  than  was  at  first  possible  even  to  the  most 
inspired  of  Apostles.  But  since  it  was  thus  charac- 
teristic of  that  first  age,  determined  so  profoundly 
the  exact  form  and  perspective  of  its  thoughts,  and 
moulded  certain  of  its  usages — explains,  indeed,  so 
much  of  its  very  genius  as  an  age  among  ages — it  is 
needful  to  realize  this  fact  fully  and  frankly.  And 
yet  there  are  hindrances  to  our  so  doing,  hindrances 
due  not  only  to  inability  to  put  ourselves  back  into 
the  situation  as  it  presented  itself  to  a  long-past  age, 
but  also  to  dogmatic  prejudice  against  all  idea  that 
Apostles  could  have  continued  under  the  influence 
of  any  of  their  older  Jewish  modes  of  thinking,  where 
these  were  not  really  of  a  piece  with  the  new  reve- 
lation. To  this  we  may  have  to  revert  later  on,  as 
part  of  the  large  and  grave  problem  of  the  presence 
of  merely  relative  elements  in  a  Gospel  of  absolute 
and  final  significance.  Meanwhile  it  is  as  clear  as 
day  that  Paul  led  his  converts  to  expect  that  the 
final  Presence  (Parousia)  or  Return  of  their  Lord 
might  be  looked  for  in  their'own  lifetime,  nay  that  it 
was  probably  "  at  the  door."  This  comes  out  clearly 
in  the  way  in  which  he  consoles  their  perplexity  at 
H 


114  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  fact  that  one  or  more  of  their  number  had  appar- 
ently failed  of  their  hope,  in  falling  asleep  during  the 
few  months  since  he  had  left  them.  He  explains  that 
it  will  make  no  difference ;  for  those  asleep  in  Jesus 
will  rise  again  in  time  to  join  their  surviving  friends 
in  the  final  Rapture,  "  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  sky." 
In  so  speaking  he  assents  to  the  general  idea  that 
they  had  of  the  time  and  nature  of  the  Parousia,  and 
only  adds  a  missing  link  in  their  thoughts.  The 
foreshortened  perspective  and  the  catastrophic  char- 
acter of  the  Hope  are  taken  for  granted,  in  keeping 
with  certain  pre-Christian  apocalyptic  speculations 
already  described,  and  to  which  further  reference 
will  be  made  in  the  sequel.  Again,  the  Apostle  here 
alludes  to  imminent  "  wrath "  (such  as  that  over- 
hanging obdurate  Judaism),  as  that  from  which  these 
elect  souls  are  rescued  in  Christ  (i.  10,  v.  9,  cf.  ii.  16). 
But  this  is  a  thought  which  recedes  in  his  later 
epistles  behind  that  of  the  present  experience  of  re- 
demption enjoyed  through  union  with  Christ  in  the 
Spirit — a  thought  far  deeper  than  is  conveyed  by  the 
assurance  that  Christians,  with  or  without  the  sleep  of- 
death,  should  alike  one  day  live  together  with  Christ 
(v.  10).  Nor  is  it  idle  to  conjecture  that  Paul's  ex- 
perience of  the  effects  of  preoccupation  with  the 
Parousia  in  the  case  of  the  Thessalonians,  may  have 
contributed  to  this  change  of  emphasis.  For  not 
only  did  it  lend  itself  easily  to  unsettling  versions 
as  to  its  approach,  such  as  he  has  to  deal  with  in 
2  Thess.  ii. ;  but  it  also  seems  to  have  been  practically 
abused  by  some,  who  began  to  cease  from  their 
wonted  avocations  and  in  other-worldly  idleness  to 


Christian  Life,  Personal  and  Social.         115 

become  a  burden  on  the  resources  of  their  fellows 
and  a  scandal  to  "those  without"  (1  Thess.  iv.  11; 
2  Thess.  iii.  6-13). 

In  this  connection  the  Apostle  appeals  pointedly 
to  his  own  example  of  industrious  toil,  which  placed 
him  beyond  all  plausible  imputation  of  self-interest, 
a  charge  which  seems  to  have  been  set  afloat  against 
him,  (most  probably  by  Jewish  jealousy,  1  Thess.  ii. 
5-10)  and  touching  which  unpleasant  earlier  experi- 
ences may  have  made  him  sensitive  (cf.  2  Thess.  iii.  8, 9). 
Other  charges  which  he  zealously  disclaims  are  those 
of  official  Apostolic  pride,  guileful  wheedling,  and 
even  impure  suggestion — insinuations  which  show 
the  bitterness  of  the  resentment  awakened  in  one 
quarter  or  another  by  his  great  successes.  More 
direct  proof  of  the  great  impression  produced  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  fame  of  the  Thessalonian  mission,  not 
only  among  the  other  believers  in  Macedonia  (in- 
cluding perhaps  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia,  as  well  as 
Philippi)  and  Achaia,  but  also  in  the  mouths  of  men 
at  large  (Jews  in  the  main?)  in  the  same  regions  and 
even  far  beyond.1  This  faith  of  theirs  meant  a  life 
radically  in  contrast  with  heathen  standard — a  walk 
in  keeping  with  certain  precepts,  based  on  words  of 
Jesus  (iv.  1,  2),  which  had  been  taught  them  as  a 
more  or  less  complete  body  of  Christian  ethics  (cf. 
2  Thess.  iii.  6,  14).     And  it  is  striking  that  the  two 

^uch  widespread  rumors  imply  the  lapse  of  considerable  time 
between  bis  leaving  Tbessalonica  and  writing  1  Thess.  This  fa- 
vors Rendel  Harris'  theory  that  1  Thess.  contains  echoes  of  a  letter 
from  the  Thessalonians  sent  in  reply  to  Paul's  enquiries  in  a  yet 
earlier  letter  of  his,  the  slight  and  occasional  character  of  which 
caused  it  to  pass  early  into  oblivion  (Expositor,  Sept.,  1898). 


116  The  Apostolic  Age. 

cardinal  graces  specified  (in  contrast  to  pagan  ideals), 
purity  and  unselfish  love,  are  referred,  to  the  first 
principle  of  the  new  life,  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit1 
and  the  new  impulses  thus  begotten  (iv.  8,  9). 

In  this  respect  one  is  reminded  of  the  tone  of  Gal. 
v.  16-vi.  10,  a  resemblance  which  becomes  the  more 
close  when  we  take  1  Thess.  v.  11-15  into  account. 
In  both  we  find  mutual  exhortation,  beneficence,  and 
burden-bearing;  in  both  the  same  sense  of  a  diffused 
responsibility  among  the  brethren,  together  with  the 
first  beginnings  of  a  differentiation  bet\veen  believers 
as  a  body  and  certain  leading  brethren  of  special 
spirituality  and  influence  (v.  12, 13  ;  cf.  Gal.  vi.  1,  6). 
Their  leadership  is,  literally  "ministry,"  devoted 
service,  informal  in  character.  Its  essence  is  solicitude 
like  that  of  elder  brethren,  who  "take  pains  "  for  the 
instruction  of  their  juniors  in  faith,  act  as  their  guardi- 
ans (the  more  naturally  that  they  were  often  the 
hosts  of  the  ecclesia,  which  met  in  some  leading  be- 
liever's house),  and  put  them  in  mind  of  their  Chris- 
tian duties.  For  such  is  bespoken  the  recognition 
and  peculiar  regard  of  the  community  on  account  of 
their  good  work  (1  Thess.  v.  12,  13)  ;  just  as  in 
Galatians  (vi.  6)  the  recognition  of  material  support 
of  his  "  instructor  in  the  Word. "  is  enjoined  on  the 
person  undergoing  definite  instruction  in  the  words 

'The  relation  of  the  Spirit  to  "  prophesyings,"  or  highly  spon- 
taneous utterances,  is  implied  in  1  Thess.  v.  20,  in  regard  to 
which  we  also  gather  that  there  was  some  reaction  of  feeling 
caused  by  abuses  (cf.  2  Thess.  ii.  2  for  a  spirit-message).  Paul's 
answer  to  this  is  an  appeal  to  the  Spirit  in  the  brethren  as  a 
whole,  who  can  discern  spirits  and  so  "separate  the  precious 
from  the  vile." 


Persecution  of  Sosthenes.  117 

of  Jesus  {catechizing).  This  is  all  that  we  find  so  far 
of  the  organization  of  the  Christian  life ;  and  its 
highly  spontaneous  character  on  both  sides,  is  made 
yet  more  evident  from  what  is  said  of  the  nearly 
contemporary  volunteer  service  discharged  in  Corinth 
by  "  first-fruits  "  like  the  household  of  Stephanas 
(1  Cor.  xvi.  15,  16,  18). 

And  so  we  return  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
Gospel  in  Corinth,  where  the  Apostles  were  mean- 
while laboring,  cheered  and  in  part  sustained  in 
things  material  by  the  loyalty  of  the  Philippian 
Church  (Phil.  iv.  15 ;  2  Cor.  xi.  8,  9).  At  some  un- 
certain stage  in  his  work  among  the  Greeks,  the  Jews 
in  jealousy  made  a  dead  set  at  Paul  and  tried  to  get 
the  Roman  governor  (proconsul)  of  Achaia,  at  this 
time  the  brother  of  the  philosopher  Seneca,  to  exe- 
cute their  wishes.  They  couched  their  charge  in 
terms  that  seemed  serious  because  they  were  vague. 
But  Gallio  saw  through  their  purpose  and,  doubtless 
by  a  series  of  apt  questions,  elicited  the  fact  that  by 
"  the  Law  "  they  meant  simply  the  idiosyncrasies  and 
technicalities,  as  a  Roman  would  regard  them,  of 
their  own  national  usages.  Once  this  was  clear  the 
case  was  at  an  end.  Such  things  were,  as  he  rightly 
said,  no  business  of  his,  being  questions  of  doctrine, 
not  deed,  names,  not  things,  of  their  own  law,  not  Ro- 
man law.  Such  things  came  under  their  own  local 
jurisdiction  ;  and  he  would  not  be  drawn  into  treat- 
ing them  as  grave  enough  for  his  own  court.  The 
Jews  felt  baffled  ;  and  in  their  chagrin  took  Gallio 
at  his  word  so  far  as  to  exercise  their  jurisdiction, 
to  the  allowable  extent  of  stripes,  upon  Sosthenes 


118  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

the  archisynagogus,  before  the  proconsul's  very  seat. 
As  they  chose  a  safe  scapegoat,  one  of  their  own  col- 
ony, Gallio  did  not  trouble  to  hinder  them.  But 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  Sosthenes  was 
the  same  as  Paul's  friend  named  in  the  address  of 
his  first  extant  Corinthian  letter,  and  that  he  had 
already  followed  the  example  of  his  late  colleague, 
Crispus,  and  become  a  Christian.1 

It  has  been  said  with  justice  that  this  residence  of 
at  least  eighteen  months  (xviii.  4)  in  Corinth  was 
an  epoch  in  Paul's  life ;  and  that  in  two  respects. 
First  it  must  have  confirmed  his  feeling  that  Roman 
law,  when  rightly  administered,  was  on  his  side  :  and 
this  will  have  important  consequences  some  years 
later.  And  next  it  must  have  afforded  him  leisure 
to  study  the  problems  in  applied  Christianity  which 
were  sure  to  crop  up  in  actual  experience  (as  on  the 
modern  mission-field),  when  the  Gospel  seed  fell  into 
soil  so  alien  in  many  ways  as  the  Corinthian  Greek. 
To  this  we  may  trace  something  of  the  increased 
maturity  and  definiteness  in  the  teaching  of  the  next 
group  of  letters,  those  to  Corinth  itself  and  the  epis- 
tle to  believers  in  Rome.  But  at  last  he  made  up 
his  mind  that  the  time  had  come  to  renew  his  rela- 
tions with  the  home  churches  of  Syria,  probably  for 
the  sake  of  that  unification  in  spirit  which  lay  so 
near  to  his  heart.  Before  starting  from  the  eastern 
port  of  Corinth,  Cenchreae,  he  performed  a  rite  which 
shows  how  strong  upon  him  was  the  hold  of  ancestral 

1  This  is  the  natural  meaning  of  the  best  text,  of  which  the  in- 
ferior MSS.  have  a  fallaciously  easy  correction,  making  the  Greeks 
the  assailants  and  Sosthenes  the  plaintiff  in  the  baffled  suit. 


Antioch   Once  More.  119 


piety.  Such  ties  of  feeling  were  far  from  broken  by 
his  revulsion  from  Judaic  legalism.1  In  this  case  the 
ceremonial  cropping  of  the  hair  was  the  outward 
sign  of  the  commencement  of  a  vow,2  probably  put- 
ting him  under  special  Divine  protection  against 
Jewish  machinations  during  his  voyage  (perhaps  in 
company  with  Jewish  pilgrims,  cf.  xx.  3). 

On  arrival  at  Ephesus  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla, 
his  restless  zeal  led  him  to  utilize  some  unavoidable 
delay  before  reembarking,  in  discoursing  in  the  syna- 
gogue on  his  Lord's  claims.  The  reception  was  so 
far  favorable 3  that  he  was  asked  to  stay  and  con- 
tinue his  teaching.  But  he  felt  bound  to  press  on 
and  complete  his  first  European  journey  as  already 
determined,  promising,  however,  to  return  should 
such  be  God's  will — alluding  to  the  providential 
hindrance  which  had  formerly  barred  his  steps  when 
making  for  Asia  and  Ephesus.  And  it  is  to  the  re- 
alization of  this  hope  that  Acts  now  hurries  forward. 
He  resumed  his  voyage,  landed  at  Cassarea,  went  up 
and  saluted  the  Mother  Church  (how  much  this  may 
have  meant  for  continued  good  understanding  with 
the  Jerusalem  authorities !),  and  then  once  more 
found  himself  in  the  bosom  of  the  Antiochene  Church 
after  some  three  years'  absence. 

1  Thus  even  when  pressed  for  time,  he  stayed  to  keep  Passover 
at  Philippi  ;  Acts  xx.  6 :  see  also  Rom.  ix.  4 ;  x.  2. 

2 Josephus  (Jewish  War,  ii.  15,  1)  says  that  it  was  customary 
for  those  in  sickness  or  other  distress  to  make  a  vow,  to  be  re- 
deemed at  the  end  of  the  month.  Luke's  reference  to  this  vow 
supports  the  view  that  Paul  was  bound  for  Jerusalem,  not  merely 
for  Csesarea,  as  some  suppose  from  v.  22. 

3  It  is  inconceivable  that  no  believers  in  Jesus  as  Messiah  already 
existed  among  the  Ephesian  Jews.  But  they  had  as  yet  assumed 
no  distinct  or  organized  being  apart  from  their  synagogues.  In 
this  latter  sense  the  Ephesian  Church  was  of  Pauline  foundation. 


CHAPTER  V. 

WORK  IN   ASIA   AND  GREECE  :    CONSOLIDATION. 

(a)  Ephesus  (Acts  xviii.  23-xix.  22). 

OR  awhile  Paul  rested  body  and  soul  in 
Antioch.  But  the  more  distant  fields 
were  ever  calling:  and  ere  long  he 
started  forth  afresh,  bound  for  Ephesus, 
yet  not  failing  to  make  a  complete  visi- 
tation of  his  South  Galatian  Churches.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  he  started  among  his  converts  that 
collection  for  "  the  poor  saints  "  of  the  Jerusalem 
Church  on  which  he  relied  for  the  removal  of  much 
prejudice  in  that  quarter,  and  to  the  due  presenta- 
tion of  which  he  devoted  so  great  pains.  Before  he 
had  passed,  however,  from  Phrygian  Galatia  to 
Phrygian  Asia,  and  by  the  higher-lying  and  more 
direct  route  some  way  to  the  north  of  the  Lycus 
valley  (where  lay  Colossse  and  Laodicea)  had  ar- 
rived at  last  at  Ephesus,  certain  events  had  already 
occurred  in  this  metropolis  which  our  historian  evi- 
dently regarded  as  significant. 

Priscilla  and  Aquila — for  this  is  the  order  of  spir- 
itual activity  in  which  they  are  thought  of  alike  by 
Paul  and  Luke — had  settled  down  for  a  time  at  least 
in  Ephesus,  plying  their  trade  and  also  letting  their 
light  shine  as  opportunity  offered.  One  day  there 
stood  up  in  the  synagogue,  which  they  frequented, 

110 


Apollos.  121 

a  stranger  of  striking  gifts  as  a  speaker  and  ex- 
pounder of  the  Scriptures.1  And  what  was  their 
delight  to  hear  him  discourse  with  Alexandrine 
subtlety  and  finish  on  the  Messianic  prophecies, 
with  a  view  to  prove  that  in  Jesus  was  their  true 
fulfilment.  It  was  obvious  that  he  had  received 
catechetical  instruction  in  "  the  Way  of  the  Lord," 
that  is,  the  more  striking  sayings  of  Jesus  and  the 
broad  outlines  of  His  life.  Yet  fervid  as  was  his 
spirit,  there  was  something  lacking  to  the  fulness  of 
his  knowledge.2  They  invited  this  brother  Jew, 
Apollos  by  name,  to  their  home ;  and  there  com- 
pleted his  instruction  in  the  Way  of  God.  In  par- 
ticular they  told  him  that  there  was  a  baptism  of 
higher  order  than  that  of  John — the  only  one  of 
which  he  had  hitherto  heard — a  Spirit-baptism, 
which  not  only  confirmed  the  heart  in  a  cleansing 
penitence  (befitting  humble  hope  in  a  coming  De- 
liverer, as  the  Baptist  had  taught,  cf.  xix.  4\  but 
also  imparted  a  new  "spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus" 
which  wrought  in  the  heart  like  fire.  Apollos  ac- 
cepted the  message  of  Pentecost.  But  it  is  not  said 
that  he  was  baptized  afresh ;  possibly  it  was  felt  un- 
fitting that  a  man  who  had  already  given  proof  of 

1  The  hints  afforded  hy  what  follows,  of  the  date  and  nature  of 
the  origins  of  the  Alexandrine  Church  are  most  valuable,  if  un- 
satisfying. It  was  obviously  not  yet  fully  in  touch  with  the  type 
of  Christianity  prevalent  in  Jerusalem  (e.  g.,  as  to  the  Christian 
Pentecost  and  the  baptism  based  thereon). 

2 May  not  his  defect  have  lain  largely  in  alack  of  appreciation 
of  the  Death  of  Messiah  ?  For  this  was  no  part  of  the  Messi- 
anic Hope,  and,  as  we  shall  yet  see,  long  remained  anything  but 
"  the  centre  of  light  "  to  Jiulseo-Christians. 


122  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  Spirit's  power  (unlike  those  soon  to  be  named) 
should  be  put  through  the  initial  rite  of  entry  into 
the  New  Israel.  In  course  of  time  he  came  to  hear 
of  the  work  begun  at  Corinth,  perhaps  through  the 
coming  to  Ephesus  of  some  of  the  brethren.  But  in 
any  case  he  began  to  burn  to  exercise  his  ministry 
in  its  new  fulness  among  so  important  a  body  of  re- 
cent converts.  The  brethren  on  the  spot  seconded 
his  wish  with  a  letter  of  commendation  to  the  dis- 
ciples in  Achaia :  and  ere  long  he  proved  himself  of 
great  service  to  these  believers  by  his  spiritual  gift. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  controversy  with 
the  Jews,  against  whom  he  maintained  publicly  and 
effectively  his  Scriptural  argument  that  Jesus  was 
the  Anointed  One.1 

It  is  not  easy  to  be  sure  of  Luke's  motive  for 
introducing  this  episode.  Some  seek  it  in  a  desire 
to  supply  a  background  to  the  notices  of  Apollos  in 
1  Corinthians.  It  seems  better,  however,  to  bring 
it  more  into  line  with  the  general  purpose  of  Acts, 
namely  to  signalize  the  place  of  the  Spirit  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Gospel  and  its  victory  over  Judaism.  So 
viewed,  its  lesson  is  further  illustrated  by  the  some- 
what parallel  case  2  which  follows  immediately,  in 

1  This,  along  with  vv.  24,  25,  gives  ns  valuable  insight  into  the 
Alexandrine  allegorizing  "  wisdom  "  or  gnosis  which  so  much  took 
the  fancy  of  the  Apollos-party  in  Corinth.  Apollos'  style  and 
methods  would  be  more  or  less  fixed  before  he  obtained  a  full 
grip  upon  the  historical  side  of  Jesus  the  Christ  from  Priscilla 
and  Aquila. 

2  Did  we  know  more  of  the  special  history  of  thought  in  Chris- 
tian circles  in  Ephesus,  we  might  possibly  see  more  point  in  this 
narrative:  cf.  John  i.  8,  15 ;  1  John  v.  6,  for  possible  allusions  to 
a  tendency  to  make  the  Baptist  the  rival  of  Him  whom  he  heralded. 


Certain  Disciples  at  Ephesus.  123 

connection  with  Paul's  arrival  at  Ephesus.  We  have 
no  reason  to  connect  the  "  disciples  "  in  question  with 
Apollos  or  his  special  antecedents,  save  in  so  far  as 
his  case  disproves  the  idea,  already  discountenanced 
by  the  term  "  disciples  "  itself,  that  such  were  mere 
disciples  of  John  and  not  professedly  Christians. 
They  evidently  moved  on  a  far  lower  level  of  spir- 
itual experience  than  Apollos.  For  a  certain  life- 
lessness  about  them  made  Paul  ask  in  surprise  if 
they  had  received  "  holy  spirit  "  (the  peculiar  joyous 
enthusiasm,  the  seal  of  faith,  Eph.  i.  13)  when  they 
first  believed.  They  replied  that  they  had  not  even 
heard  that  there  was  such  a  thing  to  be  had  (i.  e., 
they  imagined  this,  like  other  Messianic  blessings, 
to  be  yet  in  the  future).  What  kind  of  baptism, 
then,  had  they  received,  asked  the  Apostle.  That  of 
John,  was  the  reply.  That,  rejoined  he,  was  but  a 
baptism  of  repentance  preparatory  to  positive  trust 
in  the  Coming  One,  even  Jesus.  "  Into  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus "  they  were  accordingly  baptized, 
and  so  into  the  present  foretaste  of  His  Spirit — the 
Spirit  animating  His  Body  as  such  (1  Cor.  xii.  13). 
The  solemnity  of  the  act  was  heightened  by  the  par- 
ticipation of  the  Apostle  himself,  through  laying  on 
of  hands.  As  this  was  not  Paul's  usual  habit  (1 
Cor.  i.  14,  17),  the  peculiarity  of  the  case  and  the 
obvious  dulness  of  the  men's  spiritual  life,  as  com- 
pared with  the  already  quickened  Apollos,  probably 
led  Paul  to  consider  such  cooperation  expedient  as 
an  aid  to  faith.  The  special  manifestations  of  the 
Spirit  followed  in  the  forms  most  decisive  and  con- 
firmatory of  faith.     Thus  the  case  of  these  dozen 


124  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

men  became  no  doubt  an  important  precedent  and 
example  of  the  difference  between  a  vague  belief  in 
Jesus  on  old  Judaic  and  futurist  lines,  and  a  genuine 
trust  in  Him  as  a  present  Redeemer  through  the 
Spirit,  as  declared  in  His  own  Gospel. 

And  now  began  in  earnest  Paul's  mission  in 
Ephesus,  which  for  some  three  months  centred  in  the 
synagogue,  where  he  reasoned  at  length  on  the 
Kingdom  of  God  as  now  revealed.  But,  as  at 
Corinth,  so  here  certain  Jewish  hearts  hardened 
into  a  bitter  unbelief,  which  reviled  the  new  Way 
before  the  mass  of  those  present  in  the  synagogue. 
Paul  saw  the  hour  of  withdrawal  approaching. 
Only  in  this  case  he  chose  as  his  next  headquarters 
the  school  or  lecture-room  of  a  rhetorician,  named 
Tyrannus.  We  even  get  a  hint  of  the  very  hours  of 
his  day  from  a  correct  later  amplification  to  the 
effect  that  his  daily  disputations  (somewhat  after 
the  manner  of  the  traveling  lecturers  common  in 
that  age  and  clime)  were  from  the  fifth  to  the  tenth 
hour,  i.  e.,  between  eleven  A.  M.  and  four  P.  M.  This 
would  be  "after  business  hours"  as  reckoned  in 
Ephesus,  and  equally  after  Paul's  labors  at  his  own 
trade,  to  which  he  later  refers  in  his  farewell  at 
Miletus  to  the  Ephesian  elders  (xx.  34  f.).  And  so 
he  continued  for  the  space  of  two  years,  during 
which  the  Gospel  spread — partly  by  the  agency  of 
comrades  like  Timothy  (cf.  Col.  i.  1)  and  partly 
through  the  more  indirect  channels  of  social  and 
commercial  interchange — to  all  parts  of  the  province 
of  Asia,  including  not  only  Colossse  and  Laodicea 
but  also  the  Churches  named  in  Revelation  i.-iii. 


HJjoJiesus.  •       125 

Ephesus  was*  in  every  sense  a  great  focus  of 
human  life,  a  centre  where  blended  East  and  West, 
mingling  in  strange,  dazzling,  demoralizing  fashion. 
It  was  an  exchange  not  only  for  material  but  also 
for  mental  wares.  In  this  city  the  Greek  and  the 
"  barbarian "  in  various  degrees  of  crudity  and 
refinement  acted  and  reacted  one  on  the  other. 
Culture  was  there,  but  in  the  main  of  a  showy, 
frivolous,  and  sensual  type.  Religion  was  every- 
where in  evidence,  centring  in  the  cult  of  the  local 
guardian  divinity,  Artemis  of  Ephesus,  really  an 
Oriental  nature-deity,  whose  temple  was  one  of  the 
world's  wonders  and  whose  clients  of  one  kind  or 
another  largely  colored  the  industry  and  society  of 
the  city.  But  nowhere  was  religion  more  a  matter 
of  superstition,  sorcery,  self-interest,  and  even  sen- 
suality. "  Ephesian  Letters,"  under  which  came 
certain  magical  formulae,  and  "  Ephesian  Tales," 
both  represent  the  morbid  side  of  human  life.  And 
both  its  superstition  and  its  boundless  immorality 
have  met  with  unsparing  exposure  in  the  letters  of  a 
philosophic  observer,  who  may  have  dwelt  in  the 
city  about  a  generation  before  Paul  came  thither, 
and  who  veiled  his  denunciations  under  the  name  of 
the  great  Ephesian,  Heraclitus,  the  Dark  Sage,  who 
had  flourished  half  a  millennium  earlier. 

On  such  a  background  of  superstition  and  chi- 
canery we  may  be  the  less  surprised  to  meet  with 
the  next  scene  presented  in  the  vivid  drama  of  Acts. 
Paul  here  appears  as  attracting  much  notice  by  the 
works  of  power  wrought  of  God  through  his  instru- 
mentality, as  if  to  wean  the  multitude  from  their 


126  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

ruinous  follies  by  manifested  energies  in  which  even 
their  sense-bound  religious  preceptions  could  dis- 
cover somewhat  that  spoke  to  them  of  the  divine. 
That  the  Apostle  was  at  times  conscious  of  being  the 
medium  of  superhuman  energies  we  know  from  his 
own  explicit  witness  (e.  g.,  Rom.  xv.  18;  2  Cor.  xii. 
12) ;  and  this  was  doubtless  one  of  the  times  in 
question,  when  a  great  crisis  in  the  fortunes  of  his 
Gospel  had  been  reached.  But  then  the  forms  in 
which  such  power  was  popularly  supposed  to  mani- 
fest itself  (xix.  12)  must  be  referred  to  the  super- 
stitious ideas  of  pagans  and  semi-pagans,  rather  than 
to  Paul's  own  attitude.  In  these  circumstances  it  is 
extremely  difficult  to  give  a  fully  satisfactory  account 
of  the  actual  facts,  as  distinct  from  the  color  they 
took  to  the  popular  mind  in  a  city  where  exorcism 
and  magic  ran  riot.  Nor  was  there  anywhere  in  that 
age  the  scientific  knowledge  needful  to  accurate  dis- 
crimination of  the  physical  and  psychical,  where  the 
phenomena  were  complex.1  It  is  clear,  however, 
that  as  an  "exorcist"  Paul  came  into  great  repute 
through  his  marvelous  control  over  disordered 
minds  and  wills,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the 
slave-girl  at  Philippi.  And  as  all  his  confidence  and 
consciousness  of  power  centred  in  Jesus,  his  Lord, 
it  was  natural  that  certain  exorcists  should  think 
that  he  used  this  sacred  name  as  they  did  those  in 
their  magical  formulae.  So  was  it  with  certain  de- 
generate Jews,  strolling  exorcists,  who,  having  util- 
ized the  name  of  the  God  of  their  fathers  in  the 

'What  this  means  may  be  jrnugedby'the  ideas  touching  witch- 
craft general  both  before  and  after  the  Reformation. 


Exorcism  and  Magic.  127 

exercise  of  arts  which  tradition  carried  back  to  the 
wise  Solomon 1  (as  we  find  later  among  certain 
Gnostics  and  others),  thought  to  add  to  their  own 
the  secret  of  a  greater  master  in  the  dark  craft,  by 
invoking  "  the  Jesus  whom  Paul  preached."  The 
disaster  which  this  brought  upon  two  of  the  sons  of 
Sceva,  a  member  of  the  Jewish  high-priestly  clan, 
while  engaged  in  practicing  these  devices,  is  recorded 
as  having  turned  this  evil  to  the  furtherance  of  the 
Gospel.  For  the  successful  assault  of  the  possessed 
man  on  whom  they  were  trying  their  new  formula 
became  matter  of  common  talk  in  the  city,  among 
both  Jews  and  Greeks:  and  an  awful  reverence  for 
the  name  of  Jesus  crept  over  many  minds.  Specially 
had  it  the  effect  of  causing  believers  who  had  hitherto 
not  broken  with  their  old  superstitious  practices,  to 
do  so  now  once  for  all.  With  consciences  more  en- 
lightened, they  came  forward  and  made  a  clean  breast 
of  their  past  dabblings  in  magic,  which  was  moreover 
usually  directed  to  the  basest  ends.  A  number  who 
had  been  more  deeply  involved  went  still  further  and 
openly  burned  their  costly  books  of  magic  :  so  much 
so,  that  the  total  value  mounted  up  to  some  £1800. 


1  Cf.  Josephus  Ant.  viii.  2,  5,  for  the  lore  that  came  down  under 
Solomon's  great  name,  consisting  of  formulas  for  exorcising  the 
daemons  of  disease,  mental  and  physical.  Magical  formulae  were 
wont  to  pile  up  divine  names  from  all  quarters  :  cf.  Wessely, 
Ephesia  Grammala,  p.  21,  "I  adjure  thee  by  the  God  of  the 
Hebrews,  Jesus,  Iaba,  Iaeh,  Abraoth."  Strong  light  on  this 
whole  subject,  as  related  to  one  side  of  later  Judaism,  is  thrown 
by  the  apocryphal  "Testament  of  Solomon"  (translated  by  F.  C. 
Conybeare  in  the  Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  xi.  1-45),  which  prob- 
ably has  a  first  century  basis  at  least. 


128  The  Apostolic  Age. 

So,  by  the  Lord's  might,  the  Word  kept  growing  and 
prevailing. 

Yet  we  are  not  left  to  suppose,  as  we  might  from 
Acts  alone,  that  this  progress  was  unattended  by 
severe  trial  up  to  the  eve  of  Paul's  departure,  which 
seems  to  have  been  hastened  by  the  great  riot.  On 
the  contrary,  in  his  farewell  to  the  Ephesian  Elders 
at  Miletus,  Paul  refers  to  the  fact  that  his  whole  stay 
had  been  full  of  "  tears  and  trials  "  that  befell  him 
through  Jewish  plots.  These  had  indeed  kept  him 
specially  meek  in  spirit ;  but  they  had  had  no  power 
to  make  him  withhold  any  word  that  could  benefit 
any,  whether  in  public  or  private,  as  he  delivered 
his  soul  to  Jew  and  Greek  touching  "  repentance 
toward  God  and  faith  toward  the  Lord  Jesus."  From 
which  we  infer  that  every  effort  had  been  made  by 
the  Jews  in  particular  to  terrorize  him  into  discreet 
silence.  Similarly  in  1  Corinthians,  written  nearer 
the  end  than  the  beginning  of  his  residence  in  Ephe- 
sus,  he  exclaims  :  "  Even  unto  this  very  hour  we  both 
hunger,  and  thirst,  and  are  naked,  and  are  buffeted, 
and  are  homeless,  and  toil,  laboring  with  our  own 
hands" — reviled,  persecuted,  defamed,  treated  as  the 
world's  refuse,  the  offscouring  of  all  things.  His  lot, 
as  an  Apostle,  has  been  akin  to  that  of  a  condemned 
criminal,  made  a  gazing-stock,  as  it  were,  to  the 
world  of  angels  and  men,  and  liable  to  every  sort  of 
indignity.  But  for  a  full  sense  of  the  risks  run,  we 
must  go  to  other  words  in  the  same  letter.  Nothing, 
says  he,  but  a  sure  and  certain  hope  of  a  glorious 
resurrection  could  nerve  a  man  for  such  experiences 
as  his  own.     "  Else  why  do  we  run  a  risk  every 


Trials  and  Dangers  at  Ej^hesus.  129 

hour?  Daily  I  go  through  the  experience  of  death" 
— I  solemnly  aver  it.  "If,  humanly  speaking,  I 
'  fought  the  beasts '  m  Ephesus,  what  boots  it,  un- 
less the  dead  rise  ? "  Here,  behind  the  metaphor, 
lies  something  critical  in  the  extreme,  whether  we 
suppose  that  his  foes  showed  the  ruthless  ferocity  of 
wild  beasts,  or  that  he  was  by  them  brought  within 
measurable  distance  of  being  exposed  in  the  arena 
as  the  result  of  being  denounced  to  the  proconsul 
for  impiety  or  endangering  public  order.  Verily,  it 
is  but  the  smaller  part  of  this  man's  sufferings  and 
achievements  that  we  can  picture  to  ourselves.  But 
in  spite  of  actual  dangers  and  of  his  numerous  ene- 
mies, a  door  of  opportunity,  great  and  effectual, 
opened  up  to  him,  especially  in  his  last  year  in 
Ephesus ;  '  and  even  before  that  date  there  were 
"  churches  of  Asia,"  the  fruits  of  Paul's  presence  in 
those  parts,  to  send  greetings  to  their  unknown 
brethren  in  Achaia.  The  name  of  his  first  Asian 
convert,  Epsenetus,  happens  to  be  known  to  us 
(Rom.  xvi.  5),  as  is  also  the  loyal  aid  rendered  to 
him  in  his  need  by  a  certain  Onesimus  (2  Tim.  i.  18) : 
while  Trophimus  and  Tychicus  may  safely  be  thought 
of  as  converts  of  his  Ephesian  stay. 

Meantime  Paul  had  not  been  unmindful  of  his 
earlier  Churches ;  and  his  imperial  gaze  was  already 
beginning  to  fix  itself  on  Rome  as  his  next  definite 
goal  (Rom.  xv.  22,  24),  after  another  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem with  tokens  of  the  loyal  love  of  himself  and 
his  converts.  And  for  the  first  step  in  this  pro- 
gramme, a  farewell  visit  to  Macedonia  and  Achaia, 
'1  Cor.  iv.  9-13;  xv.  30  ff.  ;  xvi.  5-9,  19. 
I 


130  The  Apostolic  Age. 

he  began  to  pave  the  way  betimes,  sending  on  two 
of  his  helpers,  Timothy  and  Erastus,  while  he  him- 
self tarried  yet  a  while  in  Asia.  But  behind  this 
simple  reference  to  Paul's  projected  movements,  the 
main  objects  of  which  are  left  to  emerge  as  the  pub- 
lic narrative  proceeds  in  Acts,  there  lay  a  domestic 
tragedy,  as  it  were,  reflected  for  us  in  the  personal 
correspondence  of  the  prime  actor.  To  its  history, 
then,  which  probably  goes  some  way  back  behind 
the  point  recorded  in  Acts  xix.  21,  we  must  now 
turn  aside. 

(b)  The  Corinthian  Troubles. 

The  composition  of  the  Corinthian  Church,  as  de- 
termined by  the  mixed  population  of  the  city  and 
its  special  local  conditions,  was  peculiarly  complex. 
Corinth  had  always  been  a  city  of  note ;  and  since 
46  B.  C,  when  its  prosperity  was  re-founded  by 
Julius  Csesar  in  making  it  a  Roman  Colonia,  it  had 
attained  great  prosperity.  Its  situation,  command- 
ing the  narrow  isthmus  between  seas  on  the  direct 
route  from  Asia  to  Rome,  gave  it  unrivalled  com- 
mercial opportunities.  In  these  shared  Romans, 
Greeks,  Jews  and  other  Orientals :  while  in  the  es- 
sentially cosmopolitan  atmosphere  of  what  was  prac- 
tically, though  not  actually,  a  great  seaport,  the 
thought  of  East  and  West  in  many  forms  contended 
or  entered  into  fresh  combinations.  And  the  intel- 
lectual life  was  the  more  eager  that  the  city  had  great 
traditions  and  yet  greater  ambitions  in  the  sphere  of 
cultured  thought.  Corinth  had  also  an  unenviable 
fame  for  its  licentiousness,  fostered  by  the  local  cult 


The  Converts  at  Corinth.  131 

of  Aphrodite,  which  was  not  only  on  an  enormous 
scale  but  also  on  Oriental  rather  than  Greek  lines, 
making  vice  a  part  of  the  religious  life. 

All  these  conditions  are  reflected  in  the  Christian 
community  as  we  know  it  from  the  vivid  pages  of 
Paul's  letters.  Romans,  Greeks,  Jews,  were  all  rep- 
resented, as  we  learn  from  Acts  and  the  letters, 
which  emphasize  quite  diverse  aspects  of  the  Church 
but  supplement  each  other  perfectly.  This  comes 
out  interestingly  in  the  converts  whom  Paul  by  ex- 
ception baptized  with  his  own  hands,  probably  as 
typical  cases  of  their  class.  Stephanas,  the  first 
convert  (along  with  his  household),  was  a  Greek, 
probably  a  proselyte;  Crispus  was  a  ruler  of  the 
synagogue;  Gaius  was  a  Roman  of  some  position, 
being  referred  to  as  "  my  host  and  of  the  Church  at 
large  "  (*".  e.,  to  Christians  passing  through  Corinth, 
Rom.  xvi.  23).  And  not  only  were  there  these  men- 
tal types,  the  steady  (if  often  coarse)  Roman,  the 
versatile  and  volatile  Greek,  the  scrupulous  Jew: 
but  ere  long  their  special  tendencies  were  stimu- 
lated by  Christian  teachers  corresponding  thereto. 

Paul's  own  message  had  been  delivered  in  a 
purely  religious  and  practical  tone.  In  view  of  his 
recent  experience  of  Greek  tendencies  at  Athens, 
and  acutely  conscious  of  his  own  impotence  to  meet 
the  utter  worldliness  of  Corinth  and  its  idolatry  of 
shallow  intellectuality,  he  deliberately  chose  to  em- 
phasize not  the  wisdom  but  the  sheer  redemptive 
power  of  the  Gospel.  And  his  message  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  who  saves  through  the  Cross, 
would  appeal  only  to  minds  serious  by  nature  or  by 


132  The  Apostolic  Age. 

deep  disillusioning  experience.  The  Alexandrine 
subtlety  and  mysticism  of  the  eloquent  Apollos 
would  appeal,  not  only  to  the  Jews  in  virtue  of  its 
profound  allegorizing  of  their  Scriptures  (in  proof  of 
the  new  Messianic  ideal  realized  in  Jesus),  but  also 
to  the  Greek  love  of  the  subtle  and  suggestive  as 
such.  And  finally  there  came  those  who  could  ap- 
peal to  the  more  Judaically  minded.  They  empha- 
sized the  more  national  and  literalistically  historical 
aspect  of  Christianity,  as  determined  by  its  Judsean 
origins.  And  they  did  so  in  two  ways.  Some,  ap- 
parently the  first  comers,  gloried  in  their  having 
been  admitted  to  the  Messianic  Kingdom  by  the 
chief  of  Messiah's  own  commissioned  disciples,  Ce- 
phas, as  they  called  him  in  Jewish  fashion.  And 
they  called  on  all  to  come  into  line  with  his  ways  as 
the  only  genuine  and  authoritative  ones,  those  at 
least  of  whose  validity  men  could  be  quite  sure.  He 
was  the  great  guarantor,  and  they  claimed  to  repre- 
sent him  in  Corinth.  The  adherents  of  such  teach- 
ers may  be  recognized  chiefly  among  those  of 
"  weak  "  consciences  in  relation  to  foods  offered  to 
idols  or  otherwise  causing  scruple  to  the  Jewish 
mind.  This  Cephas  party  did  not  directly  challenge 
Paul's  authority  in  Corinth  (though  they  may  have 
said  that  he  was  not  entitled  to  the  full  status  of  an 
"Apostle,"  1  Cor.  ix.  1-6);  but  urged  that  there 
was  a  more  excellent  way,  a  fuller  orthodoxy,  of 
which  Cephas  was  the  type  and  witness. 

Others,  however,  later  arrivals  l  as  it  seems,  rep- 

1  We  gather  that  some  of  these  came  with  letters  of  introduc- 
tion from  Judaea,  addressed  to  no  special  community  but  meant 


The  Judaizers1  Attach  on  Paul.  133 


resenting  the  less  spiritual  side  of  Judaean  Christian- 
ity, went  farther.  Though  they  probably  began 
tentatively  and  with  mere  emphasis  on  Christ  as 
they  conceived  Him,1  they  finally  challenged  Paul's 
right  to  the  place  of  respect  and  authority  which  he 
occupied  as  founder  of  the  Corinthian  Church. 
They  compared  him,  to  his  disadvantage,  not  only 
with  Cephas  but  also  with  themselves  as  "  Apostles 
of  Christ."  They  based  their  own  claim  to  an  au- 
thentic and  superior  apostleship  upon  the  bare  fact 
of  having  had  personal  experience  of  Jesus  the 
Christ  in  His  actual  earthly  life.  They  had  seen 
Christ,  Paul  had  not;  therein  lay  a  world  of  differ- 
ence, as  they  judged.  And  they  insinuated  that 
Paul  himself  had  virtually  confessed  his  own  in- 
feriority by  not  having  ventured  to  claim  temporal 
support  at  the  hands  of  his  own  church,  as  all  regu- 
lar Apostles  made  a  habit  of  doing.  But  they  were 
not  content  with  thus  trying  to  undermine  Paul's 
position :  they  proceeded  to  assail  his  character  and 
the  purity  of  his  motives  in  relation  to  the  Corin- 

to  secure  them  a  favorable  reception  wherever  their  mission  work 
might  carry  them.  The  Pauline  Missions  had,  no  doubt,  found 
imitators  among  Judaistic  Christians,  who  may  iu  some  cases 
have  carried  even  James'  recommendation  with  them  aud  have 
turned  it  to  uses  he  would  not  have  approved.  Some  of  these 
missionaries  may  have  been  on  their  way  to  Eome,  where  the 
Jewish  community  was  large  and  where  Christ's  name  had 
already  caused  some  ferment  among  Jews. 

1  Unless  McGiffert,  for  instance,  is  right  iu  supposing  that  those 
who  said  "I  am  of  Christ"  (in  1  Cor.  i.  12,  as  contrasted  with 
2  Cor.  x.  7;  xi.  13,  23)  were  simply  the  party  who  piqued  them- 
selves on  their  independent  insight  and  claimed  to  "know" 
Christ  apart  from  Paul  or  any  one  else.  The  interlopers  of  2  Cor., 
however,  in  any  case  took  the  line  described  in  the  text. 


134  The  Apostolic  Age. 

thians.  When  it  was  said  that  Paul  had  deliberately 
refrained  from  being  a  charge  on  his  converts,  in 
order  to  put  his  absolute  disinterestedness  above 
suspicion  in  an  age  when  professional  moral  and  re- 
ligious lecturing  was  a  common  means  of  getting  an 
easy  and  pleasant  living,  they  seem  to  have  replied  : 
"  Ah,  yes  :  that  is  just  like  his  cleverness — putting 
you  off  your  guard  to  begin  with,  with  a  view  to 
greater  gain  in  the  long  run — the  rogue  "  {xavoopyos, 
2  Cor.  xii.  16).  To  such  depths  did  some  Judaizers 
stoop  in  their  unholy  zeal  to  supplant  the  man  who 
had  opened  the  door  that  would  have  remained  for- 
ever closed  to  their  exclusive  spirit  and  methods. 

Well  might  Paul  stigmatize  them  as  "  underhand 
workers,"  proved  by  their  conduct  to  be  "  false  Apos- 
tles," masquerading  as  men  commissioned  of  Christ 
(2  Cor.  xi.  13),  whose  taunts  should  never  beguile 
him  into  giving  them  a  handle  against  him  by  now 
beginning  to  claim  the  true  laborer's  hire.  If  it 
came  to  the  "foolish  "  game  of  "boasting"  or  com- 
mending oneself  in  words,  he  was  not  a  whit  behind 
these  "  superlative  Apostles  "  who  were  challenging 
his  right  to  the  name  (2  Cor.  xi.  5 ;  xii.  11).  Even 
in  the  mere  matter  of  what  birth  could  give  a  man 
in  a  religious  sense,  he  was  all  that  these  unworthy 
sons  of  Abraham,  boasting  a  ministry  derived  di- 
rectly from  Christ  Himself,  were  or  could  be.  And 
his  work  proved  it  superabundantly,  whether  in  deeds 
done  or  things  suffered.  As  to  their  poor,  carnal 
notion  that  they  were  somehow  put  on  an  unap- 
proachable level  by  having  known  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
as  any  one  man  may  know  another  in  the  flesh,  he 


What  the   Corinthian  Letters  Involve.         135 

had  long  since  learned  to  set  no  store  by  such  fleshly 
knowledge.  Such  knowledge  of  the  kind  as  he 
himself  had  once  possessed,  he  had  put  altogether 
out  of  account  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  Life  "  in 
Christ"  was  life  in  another  sphere,  where  man  saw, 
felt,  thought,  as  a  new  creature,  in  ways  quite  other 
than  those  of  mere  natural  or  physical  relations. 
To  this  knowledge  Christ  had  brought  him  by  the 
intuition  of  Himself  as  Crucified  Love  and  Holiness: 
and  in  the  constraining  power  of  that  vision  he  had 
labored  more  abundantly  than  any  other  Apostle, 
yet  not  he  himself,  but  the  grace  of  God  with  him. [ 
In  saying  so  much,  we  have  already  anticipated  a 
good  deal,  and  have  virtually  answered  many  of  the 
questions  which  emerge  piecemeal  in  the  two  Corin- 
thian letters  that  have  come  down  to  us.  If  we 
add  the  problems  of  conduct  inevitably  raised  by  the 
conflict  between  new  and  old  in  the  moral  and  social 
consciousness  of  believers,  whose  standards  of  thought 
and  feeling,  and  the  values  they  had  been  wont  to 
put  upon  the  different  aspects  of  human  life,  had  re- 
cently been  so  alien  to  the  mind  of  Christ — we  see 
that  there  were  present  the  promise  and  potency  of 
almost  endless  troubles.  And  when  we  remember 
that  all  these  factors  were  working  among  a  few  hun- 
dred people,  living  at  very  close  quarters,  we  must 
feel  how  intense  and  perplexing  must  have  been 
their  church  life,  how  fast  the  pace  at  which  thought 
was  moving,  and  how  great  the  possibilities  of  fric- 
tion, disunion,  and  disorder.  All  these  things  were 
focussed  in    the  great  soul  of  the  man  who  had  a 

'2  Cor.  xi.  5,  21  ff.  ;  v.  11-18  ;  cf.  1  Cor.  xv.  10. 


136  The  Ajjostolic  Age. 

parent's  feeling  for  all  bis  converts,  and  on  whom 
fell  daily  the  care  of  all  the  churches.  The  drama 
unfolded,  then,  somewhat  as  follows. 

In  the  late  summer  of  52  or  53  Apollos  went 
with  letters  of  introduction  from  Ephesus  to  Corinth. 
A  little  later  Paul  reached  Ephesus  and  began  his 
work  as  already  described.  Before  two  years  had 
elapsed,  rumors  began  to  reach  Paul  of  the  tolerance 
shown  by  public  opinion  in  the  Corinthian  Church 
toward  sins  of  impurity ;  and  he  wrote  warning 
them  not  to  associate  with  those  thus  erring.1  The 
Church  replied  evasively,  that  to  carry  out  his  ideal 
was  impracticable  :  it  meant  leaving  this  world  alto- 
gether. They  thus  affected  to  understand  his  in- 
junction as  of  universal  application  and  not,  as  he 
of  cour.se  meant,  as  between  Christians.  They  seem 
even  to  have  defended  lust  in  some  degree  as  a  satis- 
faction of  a  natural  appetite,  like  that  for  food, 
quoting  even  in  this  connection  a  formula  which  he 
himself  may  have  used  in  relation  to  things  morally 
indifferent,  namely,  "All  things  are  allowable  to 
me."  Paul's  reply  to  this  in  1  Cor.  v.,  beyond  mak- 
ing explicit  the  sense  of  his  former  advice,  lifts  the 
question  to  a  new  level,  that  of  fellowship  with  Christ 
by  His  indwelling  Spirit  and  of  the  glory  due  to  God 
in  body  as  well  as  spirit.  But  meanwhile  the  exist- 
ence of  the  spirit  of  faction,  in  relation  to  the  diverse 
religious  ideals  already  mentioned,  comes  to  his  ears2 

'It  is  a  plausible  suggestion  that  in  2  Cor.  vi.  14-vii.  1,  which 
comes  in  oddly  in  its  present  context,  we  have  in  fact  a  fragment 
of  this  letter. 

'Quite  possibly  he  at  once  sent  off  Timothy,  to  proceed  vid 
Macedonia  (on  the  matter  of  the  Collection)  to  Corinth. 


1   Corinthians.  137 


through  "  Chloe's  folk,"  slaves  or  freedmen  of  a 
Christian  lady,  who  had  possibly  just  returned  from 
business  in  Corinth.  Then  came  the  Corinthian 
reply  (with  Stephanas,  Fortunatus,  and  Achaicus), 
putting  a  whole  series  of  fresh  problems,  to  which,  as 
well  as  to  those  already  named,  he  addresses  himself 
in  1  Corinthians,  written  about  Passover  (1  Cor.  v. 
8),  55  (56)  A.  D.  In  so  doing  he  associates  with 
himself  in  the  salutation  one  of  the  most  prominent 
among  Corinthian  Christians,  Sosthenes,  probably 
the  ex-archisynagogus  of  that  name,  who  happened 
to  be  in  Ephesus  at  the  time.  But  it  is  significant  of 
his  feeling  that  there  must  be  no  question  of  their 
having  more  than  one  "  father,"  as  compared  with 
"  tutors  "  (iv.  15),  that  he  does  not  so  associate  Apol- 
los,  who  was  again  in  Ephesus  and  on  excellent 
terms  with  Paul  (xvi.  12).  It  was  no  time  for  his 
wonted  courtesies  to  fellow  workers.  The  need  of 
the  hour  was  Church  unity  at  Corinth ;  and  its  sym- 
bol must  be  their  common  relation  in  one  Gospel  to 
one  spiritual  father.  For  men  were  ranging  them- 
selves under  party  names,  "Paul's  men,"  "Apollos' 
men,"  "  Cephas'  men,"  aye,  in  arrogant  contrast  to 
these,  "  Christ's  men."  And  this  must  at  all  costs 
be  nipped  in  the  bud. 

In  the  first  part  of  1  Corinthians  Paul  deals  with 
the  factious  spirit,  shows  its  carnal-mindedness,  and 
puts  things  in  a  right  light  by  showing  his  own  and 
Apollos'  purely  ministerial  part  in  the  propagation 
or  tending  of  the  Gospel.  God  alone  can  give  life 
and  growth.  What  had  Paul,  Apollos,  or  any  one 
else  that  he  had  not  received  of  God  ?     It  was  not 


138  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

therefore  his  to  boast  of,  or  to  make  a  basis  of  divi- 
sion among  those  who  stood,  if  they  stood  at  all,  on 
the  one  redemptive  foundation,  even  Jesus  Christ, 
whose  servants  he  and  Apollos  were.  In  Christ 
every  convert  had  all  that  was  Christ's  (and  Christ 
was  God's),  "  whether  Paul  or  Apollos  or  Cephas,  or 
world  or  life  or  death,  the  present  and  the  future 
order  of  things  alike, — in  a  word,  all."  Each  serv- 
ant could  but  build  his  best  material  into  the  build- 
ing being  reared  on  Christ ;  and  let  him  look  to  it, 
what  and  how  he  so  built.  In  addition,  let  them 
take  heed  lest  by  their  dissensions  they  ruin  God's 
very  shrine,  indwelt  of  God's  Spirit.  "  For  the 
shrine  of  God  is  holy,  the  which  are  ye." 

This  conclusively  settled,  Paul  passes  to  other 
topics  with  the  final  remark  that  Timothy  will,  on 
arrival  from  Macedonia,  expound  his  "  ways  that  are 
in  Christ."  For  the  rest,  let  them  expect  his  own 
coming,  with  which  all  had  better  reckon.  The  first 
of  the  new  topics  continues  his  former  letter  touching 
their  light-hearted  attitude  toward  irregular  sexual 
relations.  There  has  just  come  to  his  ears  (perhaps 
from  Chloe's  clients)  a  fresh  and  specially  outrageous 
piece  of  news ;  and  starting  from  it  he  restates  his 
position  more  fully,  connecting  all  in  his  own  inimi- 
table way  with  the  first  principle  of  his  Gospel. 
True  Christian  conduct  is  ever  the  corollary  of  the 
believer's  union  with  Christ :  so  that  his  very  mem- 
bers and  their  energies  are  not  his  own.  Similarly 
from  the  same  relation,  which  makes  them  all  breth- 
ren in  a  deeper  and  more  real  sense  than  fleshly 
kinship  can  confer,  he  deduces  their  duty  as  to  quar- 


Practical  Details.  139 

rels  about  earthly  issues,  property  and  the  like.  If 
such  issues  are  raised  at  all— and  the  nobler  way 
would  be  to  overcome  the  wrong  by  patience  that 
should  shame  a  brother  out  of  such  trespasses — let 
them  not  disgrace  the  Name  by  going  before  unbe- 
lievers for  judgment.  Why  not  get  some  prudent 
brother  to  arbitrate  ?  Then  follows  a  terse  passage 
putting  side  by  side  the  old  and  the  new  in  the  ex- 
perience of  those  to  whom  he  writes  l  (vi.  9-11). 

Next  he  turns  to  the  string  of  practical  problems, 
personal,  social,  and  ecclesiastical  (as  Paul  would 
have  used  such  a  term,  viz,  touching  the  fellowship 
of  the  ecclesia  in  common  worship),  which  they  had 
submitted  to  him  in  writing.  Most  of  these  we 
notice  elsewhere  in  their  bearing  on  the  Apostolic 
Age  in  general:  for  they  must  be  thought  of  as 
typical  of  life  in  Greek  churches  rather  than  as 
peculiar  to  Corinth.  Quite  at  the  close  he  returns 
to  purely  epistolary  matters.  He  is  organizing  a 
collection  in  his  Galatian  and  Macedonian  churches 
for  the  saints  at  Jerusalem,  and  he  asks  them  to  par- 
ticipate. He  proposes  ere  long  to  travel  through 
Macedonia  and  at  least  to  winter  among  them  ere 
going  further ;  he  knows  not  yet  whither,  Jerusalem 
or  Rome.  Meantime  he  is  to  be  at  Ephesus  till  Pen- 
tecost, following  up  the  great  opening  there  amid 
much  opposition.  Timothy  is  already  on  his  way 
through  Macedonia  on  Collection  business,  and  will 
in  due  course  reach  them :  and  he  bespeaks  for  his 

1  Such  references  to  heathen  vices  show  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Corinthian  converts  came  from  those  whose  ideals  had  not 
already  been  moralized  by  association  with  the  synagogue. 


140  The  Apostolic  Age. 

sensitive,  shrinking  friend  a  considerate  reception, 
and  any  needful  aid  in  his  return  journey  "  with  the 
brethren."  Apollos  is  unwilling  to  return  with  the 
church's  delegates,  Stephanas,  Fortunatus,  and  Acha- 
icus,  thinking  the  present  hardly  a  suitable  moment. 
He  urges  on  them  dutiful  recognition  toward  the 
voluntary  ministry  being  exercised  among  them  by 
"the  household  of  Stephanas,"  in  whose  house  it  is 
likely  that  the  church  generally  met.  To  them,  and 
to  such  as  share  their  self-denying  labors,  let  all  be 
loyally  submissive.  "  The  churches  of  Asia  " — a 
phrase  significant  of  the  large  success  of  the  Pauline 
mission — send  salutations,  as  do  Aquila  and  Priscila, 
"  in  association  with  the  ecclesia  that  meets  in  their 
house.  The  brethren  one  and  all  salute  you.  Sa- 
lute each  other  with  a  holy  kiss.  The  salutation  of 
me  Paul  in  my  own  hand  (signing  the  letter,  written 
by  amanuensis,  as  genuine,  and  adding  a  solemn  post- 
script). If  any  loves  not  the  Lord,  let  him  be  Anath- 
ema. 'Our  Lord  is  coming '  (31aran  atha).  The 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (be)  with  you.  My 
love  (be)  with  all  of  you  in  Christ  Jesus." 

How  charged  with  mingling  emotions  are  these 
closing  words !  A  fit  climax  to  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  of  letters,  whether  as  a  revelation  of  the 
writer's  qualities  of  heart  and  mind,  or  as  a  factor  in 
a  great  crisis  in  religious  history. 

The  letter  was  despatched  about  Passover,  55 
(56)  A.  D.,  and  Paul  must  have  awaited  its  effect 
with  some  misgivings.  But  he  was  hardly  prepared 
for  certain  of  its  effects.  On  the  bulk  of  the  Church 
it  no  doubt  made  a  deep  and  beneficial  impression 


The  Lost  Letter.  141 


By  showing  the  harmony  between  Paul  and  Apollos 
it  must  have  tended  to  fuse  those  who  looked  to 
either  with  admiration.  But  on  the  Judaizing  ex- 
tremists it  had  the  opposite  effect.  It  made  them 
irreconcilables :  and  they  proceeded  to  the  tactics 
already  described,  and  of  which  2  Corinthians 
contains  a  scathing  exposure.  But  was  that  letter 
Paul's  next  step  in  the  whole  matter?  This  has 
been  doubted,  and  not  without  good  reason.1  The 
main  consideration  is  the  fact  that  1  Corinthians 
does  not  justify  the  references  in  2  Corinthians 
(i.  8)  to  the  exceedingly  sharp  and  painful  letter 
which  Paul  had  been  compelled  to  write  to  Corinth, 
and  the  smart  of  which  he  is  now  tenderly  anxious 
to  remove  by  his  present  letter,  which  is  written  out 
of  the  unspeakable  relief  just  caused  by  the  news 
brought  by  Titus  from  Corinth.  Hence  we  must 
assume  a  severe  letter  intermediate  between  1  Corin- 
thians and  2  Corinthians.  On  this  needful  asump- 
tion  the  course  of  events  was  as  follows : 

1  Corinthians  was  badly  received  at  least  in  two 
quarters.  It  was  bitterly  resented  by  the  incestuous 
person,  whose  solemn  excommunication  was  enjoined 
(v.  1  ff.),  and  who  probably  retaliated  by  publicly 
flinging  back  some  insult,  possibly  in  church-meet- 
ing. He  must  have  been  a  man  of  influence  :  and  his 
defiance,  in  which  his  personal  friends  would  tend 
to  sympathize,  gave  the  extreme  Judaizers,  the 
Christ-party,  their  opportunity.     They  began  form- 

1  The  extremely  complicated  data  on  which  the  following  con- 
clusions rest  will  he  found,  e.  g.,  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  Ike  Bible, 
art.  2  Oorinthiana,  from  which  we  differ  only  on  minor  details. 


142  The  Apostolic  Age. 

ally  to  criticise  Paul  and  belittle  his  Apostolic  claim, 
entering  into  an  unholy  and  unnatural  alliance  with 
the  man  who  had  so  outraged  Jewish  sentiment  by 
his  incest.  News  speedily  came  to  the  ears  of  Paul, 
perhaps  brought  by  Timothy  and  crossing  his  mes- 
sage to  them  that  he  was  hoping  after  all  to  come 
soon  and  straight  to  them — postponing  his  visit  to 
Macedonia  and  so  expecting  a  "  second  joy  "  by  see- 
ing them  again,  after  actually  going  to  Macedonia. 
The  result  was  the  abandonment  of  this  speedy 
visit,  as  it  would  involve  his  coming  not  in  joy  but 
in  deep  sorrow.  Instead  of  going  personally,  he 
wrote  with  much  searching  of  heart  and  many  tears 
a  letter  directed  against  the  interlopers  in  particular, 
to  whose  presence  he  rightly  traced  the  full  gravity 
of  the  crisis.  There  must  also  have  been  a  firm  re- 
iteration of  the  demand  for  discipline  on  the  brazen- 
faced offender.  What,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  has 
become  of  this  letter?  "  It  was  let  pass  into  obliv- 
ion, as  both  painful  and  temporary  in  its  purport," 
say  some.  Others  fancy  they  can  detect  it  in  Chap- 
ters x-xiii.  of  our  Second  Epistle.  There  is  much 
in  the  anxious  tone  and  vehement  invective,  often 
couched  in  terrible  irony,  which  mark  these  chapters 
off  from  the  relieved  and  thankful  tone  of  the  rest  of 
the  Epistle,  to  give  color  to  such  a  view.  Yet  it  has 
its  own  difficulties.  One  would  need  to  assume  that 
the  two  letters  had  been  freely  edited  into  a  sort  of 
unity.  But  if  so,  why  has  it  not  been  done  rather 
more  plausibly,  by  introducing  the  section  of  more 
painful  and  polemic  tone  before  the  bulk  of  the 
letter  which  is  gracious  in  manner  ?     The  editing — 


2   Corinthians.  143 


which  must  admittedly  have  been  very  free,  omit- 
ting the  part  bearing  on  the  (incestuous  x )  individual 
who  had  defied  the  Apostle — would  at  best  have 
been  bungling.  Further,  however  we  take  phrases 
like  "  This  is  the  third  time  that  I  am  on  the  point 
of  coming  to  you  "  (xiii.  1,  cf.  xii.  14),  they  would 
be  harder  to  explain  in  an  Epistle  written  earlier 
than  2  Cor.  i.-ix.,  which  follows  at  once  on  Titus' 
return  from  his  first  visit. 2  Accordingly  it  is,  on  the 
whole,  easier  to  suppose  that  with  Chapter  x.  began 
a  new  train  of  thought,  returning,  after  the  concilia- 
tory tone  to  the  majority  of  the  Church  (cf.  ii.  6),  to 
the  interlopers  and  their  sympathizers  among  the 
minority  (e.  g.,  a  prominent  Corinthian  alluded  to  in 
x.  7-11).  In  order  to  guard  against  any  recrudes- 
cence of  the  evil,  especially  on  his  approaching  visit, 
Paul  completes  the  vindication  of  his  own  Apostolic 
status  and  exposes  their  false  and  unworthy  spirit. 
The  Corinthians  had  already  been  won  back  "in 
part"  (i.  14),  and  that  for  the  most  part:  but  the 
root  of  bitterness  had  yet  to  be  extruded  finally 
from  their  fellowship,  in  the  persons  of  the  interlop- 
ing Judaic  u  false  Apostles."  And  Titus'  return, 
though  as  before  partly  on  Collection  business,  was 

1  The  fact  that  the  person  named  in  2  Cor.  ii.  5;  yii.  12,  had 
"wronged"  Paul  by  name  or  in  the  person  of  his  representative 
(say  Timothy,  if  he  actually  reached  Corinth,  1  Cor.  xvi.  10), 
creates  no  presumption  against  his  being  the  person  of  1  Cor.  v. 
1  ff.  We  have  only  to  suppose  that  he  had  been  stung  into  re- 
sentment and  defiance. 

2  So  too,  xii.  18  seems  to  refer  to  the  same  occasion  as  is  re- 
ferred to  in  vii.  14 ;  viii.  6.  That  Titus  did  not  carry  1  Corin- 
thians is  shown  by  the  reference  to  Timothy  in  iv.  17.  For  in  that 
case  Titus  would  already  have  reminded  them  of  Paul's  ways. 


144  The  Apostolic  Age. 

meant  to  serve  the  same  end  of  consolidating  the 
allegiance  now  restored  in  the  main. 

The  last  painful  letter,  then,  was  probably  written 
in  April  55  (56),  was  carried  by  Titus,  and  had  its 
desired  effect.  The  bulk  of  the  church  now  came 
quite  to  its  senses ;  the  contumacious  person  had 
been  excommunicated  by  a  decisive  majority  at  a 
church  meeting,  and  was  now  himself  contrite  and 
in  need  of  being  sympathetically  treated  with  a  view 
to  his  restoration  ;  and  before  Titus  left  he  was  able 
to  set  the  Collection  fully  going,  and  in  this,  as  in 
other  respects,  to  bring  back  a  cheering  report  to 
Paul,  whom  he  met  in  Macedonia,  probably  at  Phil- 
ippi.  Thence  Paul  at  once  penned  2  Corinthians, 
associating  with  himself  in  the  address  Timothy,  who 
had  been  unable  to  rest  in  Ephesus  for  anxiety,  when 
news  was  long  in  coming  (1  Tim.  i.  3;  cf.  2  Cor.  ii. 
12,  for  Paul's  own  impatience  in  Troas).  Titus  re- 
turned with  it  to  Corinth,  having  proved  himself  so 
capable  an  agent,  to  prepare  the  way  for  Paul's  visit 
before  winter,  55  (56)  A.  D. 

But  we  have  already  carried  this  thread  of  the 
narrative  beyond  the  point  at  which  we  dropped 
those  relating  to  Ephesus  and  Paul's  general  move- 
ments on  his  last  missionary  journey.  And  to  these 
we  must  now  return. 

(c)  The  Final  Tour  (Acts  xix.  23-xxi.  14). 

To  the  tension  of  Corinthian  affairs  was  now  added 
the  anxiety  of  a  sudden  and  nearly  fatal  tumult, 
this  time  originating  purely  in  the  reaction  of  pa- 
ganism, touched  in  a  very  tender  spot,  that  of  the 


The  Riot  at  Ephesus.  145 

trade  interests  of  the  purveyors  to  its  devotional 
feeling.  How  fiercely  the  flame  burned  for  a  mo- 
ment, so  that  Paul  felt  it  as  it  were  against  his  very 
cheek,  we  gather  from  his  personal  comments  at  the  be- 
ginning of  2  Corinthians.  He  had  been  bowed  down 
beyond  endurance,  so  as  to  despair  of  life:  he  seemed 
to  hear  the  death  sentence  echoing  through  his  heart. 
And  yet  it  had  all  been  to  teach  him  more  deeply 
the  lesson  of  self-abandonment  and  sheer  reliance  on 
God,  the  God  of  resurrection  power.  For  indeed, 
out  of  the  death-pangs  of  this  overwhelming  crisis 
God  had  rescued  His  own,  and  so  deepened  Paul's 
confidence  for  the  future.  It  was  with  the  memory 
of  these  hours  yet  fresh  upon  him,  that  he  reviewed 
his  experience  of  the  Apostolic  lot  in  the  striking 
words  (iv.  7-11) :  "  But  we  have  this  treasure  (the 
Gospel)  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excess  of  power 
may  be  of  God  and  not  from  ourselves.  We  are 
pressed  on  every  side,  yet  not  straitened;  at  our 
wits'  end,  yet  not  unto  despair ;  persecuted,  yet  not 
abandoned  ;  cast  down,  yet  not  ruined  ;  ever  bearing 
about  the  doing  to  death  of  Jesus,  that  the  life  also 
of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our  body.  For  we, 
the  living,  are  always  being  delivered  over  to  death 
for  Jesus'  sake." 

What,  then,  was  the  exact  nature  of  the  tribula- 
tions that  so  colored  Paul's  feelings  ?  The  answer  of 
course  is  found  in  the  great  riot,  the  "no  small  stir 
about  the  Way,"  described  so  vividly,  yet  with  so 
little  hint  of  Paul's  own  deep  emotions  at  the  time, 
in  Acts  xix.  23  ff.  "  Round  the  great  Ephesian 
temple,  to  which  worshippers  came  from  far,  many 
J 


146  The  Apostolic  Aye. 


tradesmen  get  their  living  from  the  pilgrims,  supply- 
ing them  with  victims  and  dedicatory  offerings  of 
various  kinds,  as  well  as  food  and  shelter."1  But 
the  demand  for  such  things  inevitably  slackened  as 
the  new  preaching  spread;  just  as  contrariwise 
Pliny,  writing  to  the  Emperor  Trajan  more  than 
half  a  century  later,  reports  from  Bithynia  that  as  a 
result  of  his  vigorous  campaign  against  the  Chris- 
tians, "  the  temples,  so  lately  desolate,  have  begun 
to  fill,  and  the  rites  of  religion  long  disused  to  be 
again  sought  after  and  fodder  to  arrive  for  the  use 
of  victims,  whereas  until  now  a  buyer  turned  up 
only  at  rare  intervals."  In  Ephesus  the  speciality 
was  a  little  shrine,  generally  of  silver,  representing 
the  goddess  "  Artemis  "  (to  use  the  Greek  name  of 
the  Asiatic  nature-deity,  the  Great  Mother)  sitting 
in  state  in  a  niche  or  under  a  sort  of  stone  canopy. 
These  were  either  dedicated  in  the  Temple  or  placed 
in  the  house  of  the  votary.  The  leading  man  in  the 
associated  trades  contributory  to  this  industry  was 
Demetrius  a  master  silversmith.  He,  when  things 
became  to  look  really  bad  towards  the  end  of 
Paul's  stay  in  Ephesus,  assembled  the  workmen  of 
his  and  the  allied  trades,  and  made  the  well-known 
appeal  to  their  susceptibilities  reported  in  Acts  xix. 
25-27. 

The  craftsmen  were  thoroughly  roused ;  interest, 
patriotism,  religion,  all  found  vent  in  the  indignant 
cry  "Great  is  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians."  The 
whole  city  was  thrown  into  confusion  ;  a  general 
rush  to  the  theatre  ensued,  the  most  part  vaguely 

1  Ramsay's  St.  Paul  (p.  277),  to  which  this  account  owes  much. 


The  Attitude  of  the  Authorities.  147 

conscious  only  from  the  first  shouts  that  their  reli- 
gion was  in  question.  On  the  way,  two  of  Paul's 
traveling  companions,  the  Macedonians  Gaius  and 
Aristarchus,  were  recognized  and  hurried  along  with 
the  rioters.  When  Paul  heard  of  this,  he  was  for 
going  in  to  intervene,  but  was  hindered  not  only  by 
the  disciples  but  also  by  the  entreaty  of  certain  well- 
disposed  Asiarchs.  These  men,  though  High  Priests 
of  the  imperial  cult  in  their  capacity  as  presidents 
of  the  provincial  "Union,"  probably  closely  con- 
nected also  with  the  worship  of  Artemis,  yet  viewed 
Paul  very  much  as  one  of  the  many  philosophic 
lecturers  or  sophists,  who  were  wont  to  air  their 
freer  notions  about  the  gods  (just  as  Tyrannus,  for 
instance,  might  have  done).  And  such  were  not 
molested,  any  more  than  Paul  would  have  been,  had 
he  but  made  mere  academic  "  displays  "  in  a  superior 
tone,  about  "  the  Divine  "  or  about  popular  supersti- 
tions.1 Accordingly  they  rather  respected  him  as 
an  eccentric  preacher,  earnest  beyond  the  ordinary 
and  uncommonly  effective  in  causing  unlikely  people 
to  live  better  lives :  and  they  saw  through  the  pres- 
ent excitement  to  its  true  source  in  sordid  self-inter- 
est.    Their  policy  was  to  let  the  mob — ever  the  real 

1 A  suggestive  parallel  and  contrast  may  be  drawn  between  the 
polemic  against  Ephesian  idolatry,  of  Paul  on  the  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  of  the  Stoic  philosopher  who  wrote  the  "Letters  of 
Heraclitus,"  perhaps  a  generation  earlier.  On  the  negative  side 
they  are  parallel  ;  as  when  the  latter  cries,  "Where  is  God?  Is 
He  shut  up  in  the  temples  ?  Yon  forsooth  are  pious  who  set  up  the 
God  in  a  dark  place.  A  man  takes  it  for  an  insult  if  he  is  said  to 
be  '  made  of  stone,'  etc."  It  is  in  the  positive  power  of  dissuasion 
that  they  differ;  for  only  the  former  could  offer  instead  a  God 
appealing  to  men's  real  needs. 


148  The  Apostolic  Age. 

enemy,  rather  than  the  imperial  authorities,  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Gospel — shout  its  resentment  out 
by  itself. 

Meantime  in  the  theatre  the  "  assembly,"  as  it  was 
meant  in  an  informal  way  to  be,  was  all  confusion, 
the  majority  not  even  knowing  the  why  and  where- 
fore of  their  presence.  Under  such  conditions  it 
was  natural  that  many,  getting  hold  of  the  wrong 
end  of  the  story  and  catching  at  the  words  "  Paul,  a 
Jew,"  should  begin  to  raise  anti-Jewish  cries — a  popu- 
lar line  then,  as  since.  To  anticipate  trouble  in  this 
quarter,  a  certain  Alexander  was  put  up  by  the 
Jews,  possibly  as  being  a  worker  in  bronze  and  so 
related  to  the  ringleaders  by  craft  (2  Tim.  iv.  14), 
to  address  the  mob  and  explain.  But  when  he  was 
recognized  as  a  Jew,  his  gesture  for  silence  was  ig- 
nored and  his  voice  drowned  in  the  cry,  which  now 
became  universal  and  continuous  for  some  two 
hours,  "  Great  is  Artemis  of  the  Ephesians,  Great  is 
Artemis  of  the  Ephesians."  At  last  the  Town- 
Clerk,  a  leading  official  of  the  municipal  council, 
and  so  in  close  touch  with  the  Proconsul  who  gen- 
erally resided  at  Ephesus.,  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  by  a  skilful  speech  cooled  down  their  enthusiasm. 
He  appealed  first  to  their  sense  of  dignity,  then 
made  the  business-like  suggestion  that  the  law- 
courts  were  the  proper  place  in  which  to  consider 
the  case  of  "  Demetrius  and  others  versus  Paul  " — 
with  a  regular  meeting  of  the  assembly  as  a  further 
court  of  appeal— and  ended  up  with  the  argument 
to  fear.  "Pretty  fools,"  said  he  in  effect,  "we 
shall  look,  if,  when  called  to  account  for  this  day's 


First  Visit  to  Corinth.  1*±9 

tumult,  we  have  absolutely  no  definite  excuse  to  al- 
lege." His  words  told  on  a  crowd  that  had  now 
had  time  to  recover  its  head  and  to  feel  just  a  little 
ashamed  of  its  blind  haste :  and  so  the  assembly 
promptly  adjourned. 

This  speech,  exonerating  Paul's  companions  from 
all  charges  of  contumely  toward  the  religious  feel- 
ings of  the  Ephesians — and  yet  so  full  of  local  color 
— was  just  to  the  mind  of  the  author  of  Acts.  He 
inserts  it  as  a  virtual  apologia  of  the  Christians  of 
his  own  day  likewise,  toward  whom  the  State  was 
beginning  to  assume  an  attitude  far  more  hostile 
than  in  the  "  earlier  and  better  days." 

The  riot  over,  Paul  called  the  disciples  about  him, 
and  after  words  of  counsel  and  cheer  took  affection- 
ate leave  of  them  and  started  for  Macedonia,  leaving 
Timothy  as  his  substitute  to  cope  with  the  dangers 
of  the  church's  internal  conditions  (1  Tim.  i.  3). 
The  time  must  have  been  about  Pentecost,  55 
(56)  A.  D.,  (1  Cor.  xvi.  8).  Here  again  his  Co- 
rinthian correspondence  helps  to  fill  out  the  bare 
summary  in  Acts.  From  it  we  gather  that  Paul  did 
not  wish  to  hasten  through  to  Corinth,  but  intended 
to  do  some  evangelizing  in  Troas,  the  chief  port  on 
his  way  to  Macedonia,  until  reassured  by  Titus 
touching  the  attitude  of  the  Corinthian  church. 
Titus  had  been  sent  shortly  before  as  the  bearer  of 
a  letter  of  great  severity,  calculated  to  bring  things 
there  to  a  crisis  which  might  either  sting  the  con- 
verts into  a  strong  revulsion  of  feeling  in  Paul's  fa- 
vor or  drive  them  yet  further  into  the  arms  of  Juda- 
izing  interlopers,  bent  on  undermining  his  authority. 


150  The  Apostolic  Age. 

As  Paul  went  over  the  alternatives  in  his  mind  in 
the  sudden  lull  of  the  journey  to  Troas,  he  realized 
how  deeply  his  soul  was  involved  in  the  issue.  So 
that,  though  "a  door  opened  to  him  in  the  Lord" 
(2  Cor.  ii.  12),  he  was  too  restless  in  spirit  to  stay 
and  really  enter  in.  He  hurried  forward  in  the 
hope  of  the  sooner  meeting  Titus  somewhere  in  Mace- 
donia. Here  he  seems  only  to  have  found  afresh  the 
troubles  he  had  escaped  from  at  Ephesus,  "  fightings 
without,"  as  well  as  apprehension  within  (2  Cor. 
vii.  5) ;  until  suddenly  the  whole  horizon  brightened 
with  the  coming  of  Titus,  as  the  bearer  of  joyous 
tidings  of  the  crisis  safely  passed  and  the  earnest 
penitence  of  the  bulk  of  the  Corinthian  church. 
Here  was  comfort  indeed,  and  that  from  God's  hand. 
The  sun  had  come  out  from  behind  exceeding  black 
clouds  on  every  side,  and  Paul  basked  in  its  gladden- 
ing rays  with  an  exultant  sense  of  relief.  But  he 
must  needs  share  it  straightway  with  the  objects 
of  his  late  solicitude,  toward  whom,  in  the  sadness 
caused  by  the  wholesome  discipline  of  the  letter  that 
had  brought  them  to  their  senses,  he  now  felt  a  yearn- 
ing sympathy  and  a  desire  to  attach  them  to  himself 
closer  than  ever  by  fresh  proofs  of  his  disinterested 
affection  for  them.  With  special  joy  and  pride  does 
he  assure  them  of  the  impression  made  on  Titus  by 
their  dutiful  reception  of  him  as  the  Apostle's  repre- 
sentative :  so  much  so,  that  now  he  has  volunteered 
to  go  forth  to  them  once  more,  as  bearer  of  the  fresh 
letter  and  also  to  further  the  collection  among  them 
for  the  Jerusalem  fund.  This  was  already  far  ad- 
vanced in  the  Macedonian  churches,  in  spite  of  both 


The  Collection:   Fields  Beyond.  151 

sore  afflictions  and  deep  poverty.  Paul  is  anxious, 
then,  lest  Corinth  should  be  put  to  shame  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Macedonian  envoys,  who  were  ere  long 
to  accompany  him  to  Corinth  on  the  way  to  Jerusa- 
lem as  bearers  of  the  funds  collected  in  Macedonia 
(vii.  5-ix.  6).  And  so  he  sends  two  other  brethren 
with  Titus  to  assist  in  organizing  the  Corinthian  col- 
lection, suggested  even  before  1  Cor.  xvi.  2,  but  now 
languishing  in  consequence  of  the  strained  relations 
between  them  and  him,  the  more  so  that  far-sighted 
greed  had  been  among  the  innuendoes  circulated 
against  him  by  his  foes.  He  has  spoken  confidently 
to  the  Macedonians  of  their  readiness  (ix.  2).  And 
he  is  sure  that  their  grateful  hearts  will  expand  into 
liberality  for  this  good  and  brotherly  cause,  as  they 
remember  "  the  unspeakable  gift "  of  God  in  their 
own  salvation. 

It  is  not  possible  to  say  with  certainty  from  what 
part  of  Macedonia  2  Corinthians  was  written.  But 
there  are  at  least  some  indications  that  it  was 
from  Thessalonica  rather  than  Philippi  (viii.  1,  2; 
ix.  2),  and  also  that  he  made  a  rather  complete  and 
careful  tour  among  the  Macedonian  churches,  some 
of  which  might  have  sprung  up  in  new  cities  since 
his  former  visit  (cf.  Rom.  xv.  19).  Nor  can  we 
confidently  identify  the  brethren  through  whom  he 
hoped  to  bring  the  public  opinion  of  other  churches 
to  bear  upon  the  Corinthians  (viii.  24),  in  sending 
them  along  with  Titus.  They  are  both  envoys  or 
Apostles  of  churches ;  the  one  being  "  the  brother 
whose  praise  in  the  Gospel  extends  through  all  the 
churches  "  and  who  is  a  delegate  sent  by  several  to 


152  The  Apostolic  Age. 

convey  their  Gentile  charity ;  the  other  a  brother  of 
oft-tried  zeal.  They  cannot  have  been  Macedonians, 
a  fact  which  excludes  most  of  those  named  in  Acts  xx. 
4,  if  not  Luke  also.  Hence  they  probably  be- 
longed to  Asia  Minor,  and  being  already  members 
of  Paul's  party  bound  for  Jerusalem  via  Corinth 
would  be  available  to  go  on  before  with  Titus.  If 
so,  we  may  see  in  them  Tychicus,  who  had  been  ac- 
tive in  Asia  (Eph.  vi.  21 ;  Col.  iv.  7),  and  Trophi- 
mus  the  Ephesian  (xxi.  29),  both  of  whom  seem  to 
have  been  with  Paul  at  Corinth  some  few  months 
later. 

Of  course  it  was  during  this  stay  that  he  wrote 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  so  marvelous  not  only 
for  its  profound  and  comprehensive  thought  but  also 
for  the  splendid  sweep  of  its  missionary  programme, 
In  it  a  visit  to  the  far  west — to  Spain  by  way  of  Rome 
— was  already  embraced.  His  feeling  was  that  "  he 
had  no  longer  place  in  these  regions "  from  which 
he  is  writing :  so  thoroughly  did  he  feel  himself  the 
pioneer  of  Christ's  Empire  in  the  world-empire  !  In- 
deed the  thought  of  visiting  Rome  had  been  in  his 
heart  "for  a  considerable  number  of  years  "  ;  and  on 
many  distinct  occasions  he  would  actually  have 
started,  but  was  hindered,  probably  by  the  needs  of 
his  existing  churches  and  the  exigency  of  keeping 
them  in  touch  with  those  in  Palestine  (xv.  22-29). 

(d)   The  Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xx.  3- 
xxi.  17). 

Paul's  route  on  leaving  Corinth,  early  in  56  (57) 
A.  D.,  was  determined  by  a  Jewish  plot  to  kill  him 


Troas:    Object  of  the  Journey.  153 


on  the  voyage,  which  led  to  his  going  round  by 
Macedonia.  By  this  time  his  now  considerable  party 
of  almoners  had  for  the  most  part  assembled  at 
Corinth,  though  some  may  have  been  at  Ephesus 
awaiting  his  arrival  by  ship,  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem. 
When  then  he  determined  to  evade  Jewish  hatred  by 
going  incognito  through  Macedonia  to  Ephesus,  his 
main  party  carried  out  the  original  plan  of  crossing 
the  JEgean,  modifying  it  only  by  proceeding  from 
Ephesus  to  meet  Paul  and  his  smaller  party  at  Troas. 
At  Philippi  Paul  kept  the  Passover  season,  and  then 
sailed  with  the  author  of  the  "we"  passages  for 
Troas,  where  they  arrived  on  the  fifth  day.  Here 
all  were  detained  a  week,  waiting  for  a  ship  or  the 
weather;  during  which  delay  the  Sunday  evening 
Breaking  of  Bread  and  accompanying  religious  serv- 
ice was  prolonged  to  midnight,  as  Paul  discoursed 
on  the  eve  of  a  departure  which  meant  so  much  for 
all  present.  The  incident  of  Eutychus'  fall  and 
restoration  to  life  is  familiar  in  the  author's  own 
vivid  words :  only  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  unlike  the 
case  of  Paul  himself  in  xiv.  19,  his  death  is  asserted 
as  a  matter  of  fact  and  not  of  momentary  supposition. 
Paul  resumed  their  religious  fellowship  with  the 
Lord's  Supper  itself.  To  its  joyous,  thankful  note 
their  hearts  must  have  felt  fully  attuned.  And  so 
he  led  them  in  the  expression  of  the  thanksgiving  in 
every  breast  for  signal  divine  help,  as  they  realized 
in  a  new  way  their  dependence  on  God,  not  only  for 
the  Bread  of  Life  in  Christ,  but  also  for  every  tem- 
poral blessing.  The  sacred  meal  over,  earnest  but 
informal  converse  on  things  divine  continued  until 


154  The  Apostolic  Age. 

daybreak  brought  the  signal  for  Paul  to  depart, 
leaving  behind  a  deep  impression  of  his  personality 
and  his  wonderful  words  of  cheer.  The  party  as  a 
whole  joined  the  ship  forthwith,  that  Monday  morn- 
ing early  in  Spring  56  (57)  A.  D.,1  its  leader  prefer- 
ring to  cross  on  foot  the  neck  of  land  which  lay  be- 
tween Troas  and  Assos.  One  can  only  surmise  that 
he  wished  to  be  alone,  to  gaze  into  the  face  of  the 
future  and  be  braced  to  meet  its  worst  in  the  might 
of  his  Lord.  May  we  not  discern  the  fruit  of  such 
still  communing  in  the  calm  tone  of  his  words  to  the 
Ephesian  elders  and  to  others  touching  his  own 
destiny  ?  It  was  indeed  a  crisis  in  human  history, 
this  journey,  to  which  Paul  looked  more  than  to  any 
other  one  thing  to  blend  the  Judseo-Christian  and 
Gentile  Churches  into  an  actual  unity  of  conscious 
fellowship,  such  as  should  make  them  in  deed  what 
they  were  to  his  eye,  one  JEcclesia,  one  Body  of  the 
Christ  animated  by  the  one  Spirit.  Should  his 
brightest  hope  be  realized  and  he  perform  this  "  min- 
istry "  in  peace,  how  calmly  and  joyfully  could  he 
turn  his  face  to  Rome  and  the  farther  West !  But 
in  any  case  God  would  "make  all  things  work  to- 
gether for  good,"  as  in  faith  he  executed  an  act 
prompted  by  God's  own  love. 

1  Combining  this  notice  of  the  day  of  the  week  with  the  fact 
that  it  was  some  ten  days  since  Paul  left  Philippi,  presumably  on 
the  morrow  after  the  Days  of  Unleavened  Bread,  we  get  Friday  as 
the  day  of  sailing  from  Philippi,  and  Thursday  evening  as  the 
beginning  and  end  of  Passover  Week.  It  has  been  calculated 
that  this  was  not  the  case  in  A.  D.  55,  58,  59 ;  and  as  54  seems  on 
other  grounds  too  early,  the  years  available  are  56  and  57.  Of 
these  Turner  prefers  56,  and  Eamsay  57. 


The  Address  at  Miletus.  155 


la  the  neighborhood  of  Assos  he  rejoined  the  ship, 
and  the  same  evening  they  reached  Mitylene.  The 
ship  evidently  started  each  day  at  sunrise  and  an- 
chored at  sunset,  in  accordance  with  the  ways  of  the 
wind  at  that  season  on  those  coasts.  And  Luke  lets 
us  see  through  his  eyes  the  various  stages  of  this 
momentous  voyage.  On  Tuesday  evening  they  were 
opposite  the  large  island  of  Chios ;  on  Wednesday 
they  anchored  south  of  Samos ;  and  early  in  the 
next  day  reached  the  harbor  of  Miletus.  Here  the 
ship  was  making  some  stay.  Paul  had  already  set- 
tled not  to  visit  Ephesus,  for  fear  of  being  detained 
in  Asia  so  long  as  to  jeopardize  his  arrival  at  Jerusa- 
lem for  Pentecost — thus  losing  the  full  effect  of  a 
visit  meant  to  express  his  loyalty  as  a  Jew.  But  he 
seized  the  chance  of  an  interview  with  the  leaders  of 
his  chief  Asiatic  church,  and  by  messenger  advised 
the  Ephesian  Elders  of  his  proximity. 

On  their  arrival,  probably  on  the  Friday,  he  de- 
livered to  them  a  peculiarly  solemn  and  affecting 
farewell  charge.  Beginning  with  a  reference  to  the 
spirit  of  his  own  ministry  among  them,  and  dwelling 
pointedly  on  its  anxieties  and  hardships,  he  spoke  of 
the  compelling  power  that  was  taking  him  to  Jerusa- 
lem like  a  bond-servant  ignorant  of  his  Lord's  coun- 
sels, conscious  only  that  the  Holy  Spirit's  testimony 
to  him  in  city  after  city  was  that  bonds  and  afflic- 
tions were  in  store  for  him.  Yet  he  will  not  repine  ; 
his  life  is  dear  to  him  only  so  far  as  it  fulfils  the  ap- 
pointed course  and  ministry  of  the  Gospel  of  God's 
grace,  received  long  since  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  He  is 
assured  that  this  is  the  last  time  that  they  will  look 


156  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

upon  his  face ; *  and  so  with  all  the  solemnity  of  a 
final  parting  he  disclaims  further  responsibility  for 
them,  since  he  had  not  held  back  any  part  of  God's 
counsel.  It  is  for  them  now,  to  look  to  themselves 
and  to  all  the  flock,  wherein  the  Holy  Spirit  had 
placed  them  as  guardians  (epislcopoi),  to  shepherd  the 
Church  of  God  which  He  had  acquired  by  the  blood  of 
His  own  Son.2  For  grievous  wolves  (probably  Juda- 
izers,  as  at  Corinth)  were  about  to  enter  in,  unsparing 
of  the  flock ;  while  from  the  local  fellowship  itself 
should  arise  men  of  perverse  teaching  and  try  to 
draw  the  disciples  away  after  themselves.  Watch- 
fulness, then,  is  their  prime  duty,  in  the  spirit  of  his 
own  example  of  tender  solicitude  in  the  past.  And 
to  this  end,  he  commits  them  to  their  Lord  and  to 
His  Gospel,  wherein  lay  resources  adequate  to  their 
up-building  and  to  securing  for  them  finally  "the  in- 
heritance in  the  assembly  of  the  sanctified."  Then  he 
turns  once  more  to  his  own  practice,  as  an  ensample 
of  the  disinterested  and  self-sacrificing  love  that  is 
the  true  pastoral  spirit,  quoting  words  that  were 
evidently  part  of  the  deposit  of  their  Lord's  sayings 
which  he  had  taught  them — "  Blessed  is  it  rather  to 
give  than  to  receive." 

1  Whether  the  attribution  of  this  solemn  conviction  to  the  great 
Apostle  by  his  devoted  admirer,  in  a  work  written  after  the  actual 
sequel  was  matter  of  common  knowledge,  is  compatible  with  a  sub- 
sequent visit  to  Ephesus — which  1  Tim.  i.  3  is  often  assumed  to 
involve — must  be  considered  later  on.  What  we  have  to  account 
for  is  ver.  38,  even  more  than  ver.  25. 

2  This  must  be  the  sense  of  did  too  a"p.aro$  too  Idiou.  Hort 
renders  it  "by  the  blood  that  was  His  own,"  and  cites,  for  the 
thought  that  the  Father  pays  the  price  in  yielding  up  His  own 
Son,  Rom.v.  8  (iaurou),  viii.  32. 


Forebodings.  157 

This  last  message  of  his  lips  to  them,  was  also  the 
message  of  his  life.  He  knelt  and  prayed  with  them 
all.  And  they  all  wept  sore  and  fell  on  Paul's  neck 
and  kissed  him,  sorrowing  most  of  all  at  his  forebod- 
ing that  it  was  for  the  last  time.  All  that  was  left 
to  them  was  to  conduct  him  to  the  ship,  where  the 
final  wrench  came ;  and  the  land  soon  faded  from 
the  view  as  the  vessel  sped  on  the  straight  line  to 
Cos.  The  next  day  brought  Paul  to  the  famous  city 
of  Rhodes,  lying  to  the  northeast  corner  of  its  fine 
island ;  and  the  next  to  Patara,  on  the  southwest 
coast  of  Lycia.  Here  they  found  a  ship  sailing  on 
the  direct  long  course  to  Phoenicia  by  the  west  of 
Cyprus,  instead  of  taking  the  slower  coasting  route. 
And  so,  after  touching  perhaps  at  Myra  on  the  south- 
east of  Lycia  (whence  the  long  run  was  usually  made), 
they  put  to  sea,  sighted  Cyprus  on  the  left,  and  in 
due  time  reached  Tyre  where  their  ship  was  wont  to 
discharge  her  cargo.  During  this  operation  they 
sought  out  the  local  disciples  and  were  received  with 
the  freemasonry  so  distinctive  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians. Once  more  did  prophetic  voices,  dissuading 
from  the  projected  visit,  sound  upon  the  Apostle's 
ears :  and  once  more  his  faith  stood  the  test.  And 
then,  after  a  week's  stay,  the  party  was  accompanied 
down  to  the  beach  by  the  whole  Christian  commu- 
nity— men,  women,  and  children — and  with  prayer 
and  kindly  farewells  dismissed  on  their  way.  At 
Ptolemais  they  were  able  to  spend  only  one  day  with 
the  brethren  :  and  on  the  morrow  they  disembarked 
for  good  at  Csesarea,  finding  hospitality  with  Philip 
the  Evangelist,  "who  was  one  of  the  Seven."     This 


158  The  Apostolic  Age. 

good  man  had  four  unmarried  daughters  who  exer- 
cised the  prophetic  gift — a  fact  which  Luke,  ever 
alive  to  tokens  of  the  Spirit's  presence,  is  careful  to 
note. 

The  speed  of  the  voyage  had  left  them  some  days 
to  spare;  and  these  they  spent  at  Ceesarea  in  resting, 
wishing  perhaps  to  arrive  only  just  in  time  for  Pen- 
tecost itself.  Possibly  Paul  hoped  by  immediate 
public  observance  of  the  Feast  to  falsify  malicious 
rumors  about  himself  and  remove  prejudice;  pos- 
sibly also  to  offer  the  Gentile  thank-offering  as  a  gen- 
uine Pentecostal  earnest  of  "the  fulness  of  the  Gen- 
tiles." Yet  he  had  one  more  ordeal  to  undergo ; 
when  the  Judsean  prophet  Agabus  came  down,  and 
with  symbolism  recalling  certain  acts  of  the  older 
Prophets  intimated  that  Paul  should  be  bound  of 
the  Jews  in  Jerusalem  and  handed  over  to  the  Gen- 
tile authorities.  It  was  indeed  the  climax  of  such 
appeals  to  his  instinct  of  self-preservation,  for  it  was 
reinforced  by  the  local  Christians  and  by  his  own 
companions.  But  Paul  was  immovable,  and  said, 
"What  do  ye,  weeping  and  unmanning  my  heart? 
Since  I  am  ready  not  only  to  be  bound,  but  also  to 
meet  death  at  Jerusalem,  on  behalf  of  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus."  Seeing,  then,  that  he  was  not  to 
be  persuaded,  "  we  held  our  peace,"  writes  Luke, 
"  saying,  The  Lord's  will  be  done." 

Thereafter,  having  equipped  themselves  (prob- 
ably with  horses)  they  proceeded  on  the  way  to 
Jerusalem,  accompanied  by  some  of  the  disciples 
who  were  to  introduce  them  to  Mnason,  a  Cypriot 
like  Barnabas,  and  a  disciple  of  long-standing,  with 


Forebodings.  159 

whom  they  might  lodge.  This  precaution  points  to 
the  prevalence  of  the  distrust  felt  toward  Paul  even 
by  the  Jerusalem  Christians  as  a  body.  And  so  the 
long  journey  reaches  its  close,  and  the  sequel  in  Je- 
rusalem opens  with  a  cheering  reception  at  the  hands 
of  the  inner  circle  of  leading  brethren. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IMPRISONMENT   AND   MARTYRDOM. 

(a)    Imprisonment  in  Jerusalem  and   Csesarea  (Acts 
xxi.  18-xxvi.). 

AUL'S  informal  welcome  had  been  en- 
couraging. But  when,  on  the  morrow, 
he  and  his  party  went  in  to  have  more 
formal  audience  with  the  local  leaders, 
with  James  and  the  whole  body  of  the 
Elders  (no  Apostles  appear  to  have  been  in  Jeru- 
salem at  the  time),  the  cloud  began  at  once  to  appear 
on  the  horizon.  After  interchange  of  salutations, 
Paul  related  in  full  God's  dealings  with  the  Gentiles 
through  his  ministry ;  and  the  narrative  called  forth 
their  expressions  of  praise  to  God.  But  they  went 
on  to  suggest  the  advisability  of  anticipating  the 
evil  rumors  current  in  the  city,  not  only  among  un- 
believing but  also  among  believing  Jews,  who  were 
as  zealous  as  their  neighbors  for  the  Law.  The  tale 
that  had  been  diligently  circulated,  for  instance  by 
Asiatic  Jews  when  up  at  the  Feasts,  was  that  Paul 
was  wont  to  urge  apostasy  from  Moses  on  all  the 
Jews  in  the  Diaspora,  bidding  them  refrain  from  cir- 
cumcising their  children  and  from  observing  the 
usual  customs.  Paul  was  advised,  then,  to  take  some 
step  that  would  bring  him  prominently  before  the 
public  eye  as  conforming  to  Jewish  usage.    The  test 

160 


Purification  in   the  Temple.  161 

case  suggested  was  one  about  which  he  could  have 
no  difficulty,  seeing  that  he  must  on  his  last  visit 
have  conformed  to  its  conditions  as  a  sequel  to  his 
own  vow  made  at  Corinth.  On  this  occasion  he  was 
simply  to  participate  in  the  final  stage  of  other  men's 
vows,  by  purifying  himself  along  with  them  and  in- 
curring the  expense  of  the  sacrifices  marking  the 
expiration  of  such  vows  (Num.  vi.).  So  should  all 
men  perceive  that  there  was  nothing  in  what  was  so 
industriously  alleged  of  him,  but  that  on  the  con- 
trary he  himself  yielded  observance  to  the  Law — in 
an  act  of  piety,  one  may  add,  which  involved  the 
popular  virtue  of  alms  done  to  brethren  too  poor  to 
provide  their  own  sacrifices.1 

Paul,  feeling  that  there  was  just  enough  half- 
truth  in  the  rumors  to  render  them  highly  plausible, 
complied  ;  took  the  men  in  hand,  purified  himself, 
and  entered  the  Temple  to  give  public  notice  on 
their  behalf  that  the  days  of  purification  were  fully 
up  and  that  the  sacrifice  for  each  was  about  to  be 
offered.  It  is  possible  that  he  had  sacrifices  of  his 
own  to  offer,  the  sequel  of  some  vow  such  as  that  of 
Acts  xviii.  18,  or  in  connection  with  the  Gentile 
Collection  now  happily  achieved.  For  he  speaks 
later  (xxiv.  17)  of  his  presence  in  Jerusalem  as  for 
the  purpose  of  "  doing  alms  to  my  nation  and  mak- 
ing offerings  " :  and  that  it  was  while  engaged  with 
the  latter  that  he  had  been  found  "  purified  in  the 
temple."     But    in    any    case   the   intended   object- 

1  It  is  one  of  the  means  by  which  Herod  Agrippa  (Jos.  Ant.  xix. 
6,  1)  sought  to  show  himself  a  good  Jew,  "giving  order  for  full 
many  Nazirites  to  secure  the  shaving  of  their  heads." 

K 


1G2  The  Apostolic  Age. 

lesson  failed  of  its  end.  Though  he  was  in  the 
company  of  men  probably  known  as  Jewish  Chris- 
tians, yet  the  moral  drawn  by  the  suspicion  or 
malice  of  the  Asiatic  Jews,  who  espied  him  during 
44  the  seven  days  "  of  preliminary  attendance  in  the 
Temple,  before  the  rites  which  ended  the  vows 
actually  took  place,  was  a  highly  damaging  one. 
They  insinuated  that  he  had  introduced  Greeks  into 
the  inner  court  of  the  Temple,  which  it  was  sacrilege 
for  a  Gentile  to  enter;  and  this  simply  because  they 
held  him  an  apostate  at  heart,  and  because  they  had 
seen  Trophimus  the  Ephesian  with  him  in  the  city. 
The  mob  soon  gathered.  But  as  they  were  roughly 
handling  Paul  outside  the  sacred  precincts,  Claudius 
Lysias,  the  commandant  of  the  Roman  garrison 
stationed  in  Antonia,  the  fortified  post  overlooking 
the  Temple  area,  suddenly  intervened  with  his  men : 
and  being  unable  to  get  any  clear  account  of  the 
wherefore  of  the  tumult,  he  bore  Paul  off  to  the 
fortress.  As  they  were  ascending  the  steps  leading 
thither,  with  the  mob  surging  around  the  soldiers 
and  their  charge,  Paul  surprised  the  chiliarch  or 
tribune  by  addressing  him  in  Greek.  This  officer 
had  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  a  certain 
Egyptian  Jew,  a  false  Messiah,  who  sometime  before 
had  headed  a  futile  revolt  against  the  Romans,  but 
had  succeeded  in  escaping  after  luring  numbers  on 
to  death.  On  learning,  then,  that  Paul  was  a  citizen 
of  Tarsus,  he  granted  him  the  wished -for  opportunity 
of  explaining  the  true  situation  to  the  people,  stand- 
ing where  he  was  on  the  steps  just  outside  the 
Roman  fortress.    His  speech  was  in  44  Hebrew,"  a  fact 


Before  the  Sanhedrin.  163 


which  secured  him  a  better  hearing,  and  its  text  was 
virtually  :  "  I  was  once  in  feeling  just  as  you  are  to- 
day :  listen  how  I  came  to  my  present  position."  It 
covers  much  the  same  ground  as  the  narrative  of  his 
conversion  in  Acts  ix.,  but  is  even  more  vivid  and 
accurate  in  form.  But  their  prejudices  caused  his 
apology  to  reach  an  abrupt  ending,  at  the  point 
where  he  was  leading  up  to  the  explanation  of  his 
intercourse  with  Gentiles  such  as  had  brought  him 
into  suspicion.  The  air  was  rent  with  shouts  of 
"  Away  with  such  a  fellow :  for  it  is  not  fit  that  he 
should  live."  And  their  excitement  became  so  great, 
that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  retire  into  the 
safety  of  the  citadel.  Here  Lysias  gave  orders  for 
Paul  to  be  scourged,  in  order  to  extort  the  full  truth 
from  his  own  lips.  And  thus  the  historian  had 
opportunity  once  more  to  show  how  the  Christian 
missionary's  condition  as  a  born  Roman  citizen  stood 
him  in  good  stead  and  led  to  more  considerate  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  officer,  who  set  all  the 
higher  value  on  the  privilege  that  it  had  come  to  him- 
self only  at  great  cost. 

On  the  morrow  he  brought  Paul  before  a  more 
select,  and  presumably  more  judicially  minded 
Jewish  body,  namely  the  Sanhedrin ;  to  discover,  if 
possible,  the  exact  nature  of  the  supposed  offence. 
In  this  he  was  again  balked:  for  Paul,  discerning 
that  the  only  way  to  evade  a  formal  hostile  decision 
on  the  part  of  the  supreme  Jewish  tribunal  (which 
could  hardly  be  other  than  prejudicial  to  him  in 
Roman  eyes)  was  to  take  advantage  of  the  theological 
differences  between  his  foes,  threw  an  apple  of  dis- 


164  The  Apostolic  Age. 

cord  into  the  midst.  He  proclaimed  himself  a  man 
of  Pharisaic  birth,  and  one  whose  hope  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  (which  with  him  rested  on 
Christ's  resurrection)  was  really  at  issue.  A  great 
outcry  at  once  ensued ;  and  in  the  course  of  the 
wrangle  certain  scribes  of  the  Pharisaic  party  de- 
clared that,  "Supposing  a  spirit  or  an  angel  had 
spoken  to  this  man,"  it  was  not  for  them  to  judge 
him  in  such  a  matter — referring,  apparently,  to 
Paul's  account  of  his  call  from  the  Risen  Jesus.  So 
hot  waxed  the  contention  that  Lysias,  fearing  for 
Paul's  safety,  caused  the  soldiery  to  rescue  him  from 
their  midst  and  lodge  him  again  in  the  fortress. 
That  night  the  Lord  surprised  him  in  a  vision, 
cheering  him  with  the  assurance  that,  as  in  Jeru- 
salem, so  in  Rome  must  he  witness  to  Himself. 

But  the  popular  feeling  against  Paul  had  by  no 
means  subsided.  A  conspiracy  against  his  life  was 
formed  between  more  than  forty  men,  who  bound 
themselves  by  imprecations  to  do  away  with  him  be- 
fore again  touching  food.  In  this  they  secured  the 
cooperation  of  the  leaders  of  the  Sanhedrin,  which 
was  to  present  a  formal  request  to  Lysias  to 
have  Paul  among  them  again  for  more  careful 
hearing.  Happily  the  plot  came  to  the  ears  of  a 
young  nephew  of  Paul  on  his  sister's  side,  who  got 
access  to  him  and  then  to  Lysias.  The  upshot  was 
that  Paul  was  despatched  by  night  under  a  strong 
guard  to  Felix,  the  procurator,  at  Csesarea.  And 
thither  he  came  the  next  day,  after  a  halt  at  Anti- 
patris.  In  the  letter  which  Lysias  sent  to  explain 
the  case,  there  is  an  interesting  designed  misstate- 


Before  Felix;    Confined  in   Csesarea.  165 

ment,  to  the  effect  that  he  had  sent  to  rescue  Paul 
on  learning  that  lie  was  a  Roman.  This  only  proves 
that  the  actual  wording  of  the  letter  is  reflected  in 
its  present  setting,  the  officer  being  concerned  to 
emphasize  his  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the  Roman  name. 
Felix  contented  himself  for  the  moment  with  in- 
quiring to  what  province  he  belonged,  to  see 
whether  he  came  strictly  under  his  jurisdiction.  On 
learning  that  he  was  a  Cilician,  so  falling  within  the 
area  of  his  superior,  the  legate  of  Syria,1  he  ad- 
journed the  hearing  until  the  arrival  of  the  accusers, 
lodging  him  meantime  in  mild  custody  in  his  official 
residence,  once  Herod's  Palace. 

On  the  fifth  day  the  prosecution  arrived,  in  the 
persons  of  Hananias  the  High  Priest  and  certain 
Elders,  along  with  an  advocate  named  Tertullus ; 
and  lodged  a  formal  charge  against  Paul.  When 
the  case  came  up  for  hearing,  Tertullus,  after  the 
usual  bid  for  the  judge's  favor  by  words  of  flattery, 
at  once  broached  a  most  damaging  form  of  charge  to 
Roman  ears,  namely  that  of  being  an  habitual  nuis- 
ance and  menace  to  public  order  among  the  Jews 
everywhere.  The  accused  was  in  fact  a  ringleader 
of  the  sect  of  the  Nazorjieans,  who  had  been  in  the 
act  of  profaning  the  Temple  when  he  was  laid  hold 
of.  But  of  all  this  Felix  could  become  assured  by 
questioning  the  man  himself.  When  Paul  in  turn 
received  the  signal  to  speak,  he  began  with  a  skilful 

1  It  is  surely  the  mark  of  a  contemporary  account  that  this  is 
so  represented,  seeing  that  Vespasian  united  both  portions  of 
Cilicia  (Rough  and  Smooth)  in  a  single  province  with  an  im- 
perial governor  of  its  own,  in  73-74  A.  D. 


166  The  Apostolic  Age. 

reference  to  his  judge's  experience,  acquired  by  many 
years'  office  among  the  Jews.  It  was,  then,  a  fact 
easy  to  verify,  that  it  was  barely  a  dozen  days  since 
he  had  gone  up  to  Jerusalem  to  worship;  and  that, 
so  far  from  making  a  tumult,  he  had  not  even  en- 
gaged in  public  discussion  in  the  Temple  or  any- 
where else.  The  prosecution  had  simply  no  evi- 
dence to  support  their  allegations.  His  real  offence, 
if  such  it  was,  consisted  in  the  fact  that  his  worship 
of  the  God  of  his  fathers  was  "  after  the  Way  which 
they  call  a  sect,"  believing,  as  he  did,  all  written  in 
Law  and  Prophets,  and  cherishing  a  hope  toward 
God — even  as  did  his  accusers — that  there  was  yet 
to  be  a  resurrection  both  of  just  and  unjust.  In  this 
faith  he  was  ever  careful  to  keep  a  pure  conscience 
as  regards  God  and  man.  So  after  the  lapse  of  sev- 
eral years  he  had  come  up  to  do  alms  to  his  people 
and  to  offer  sacrifices:  and  it  was  when  duly  en- 
gaged in  this  that  he  had  been  arrested  at  the  insti- 
gation of  certain  Jews  from  Asia,  who  ought  that 
day  to  have  been  present,  to  sustain  their  charge. 
As  it  was,  let  the  High  Priest  and  his  friends  specify 
what  crime  they  had  detected  in  him  the  day  he  stood 
in  their  midst  in  the  Sanhedrim  Felix,  being  perfectly 
well  acquainted  with  "the  Way"  of  the  Christians, 
saw  that  no  clear  verdict  was  possible  on  such  evi- 
dence, and  adjourned  the  hearing  until  Lysias  should 
come  down  and  give  his  testimony  in  full.  Accord- 
ingly Paul  was  handed  over  to  the  care  of  a  cen- 
turion, to  be  kept  in  military  custody,  which  gave 
him  considerable  liberty  and  his  friends  free  access 
to  minister  to  his  comfort. 


Felix's   Treatment  of  Paul  107 


Evidently    Felix    had  been  impressed   by   Paul's 
manner,  and  perhaps  by  his  story  also :  for  on  his 
return  to  Caesarea  later  on  in  company  with  Drusilla, 
sister  of  Agrippa  II.,  who  had  deserted  Azizus,  prince 
of  Emesa,  to  become  the  procurator's  wife,  he  sent 
for  his  prisoner  to  hear  more  about  the  new  faith. 
Paul's  faithful  emphasis  on  its  moral  aspects  is  repre- 
sented   as   having   reached    Felix's    conscience   and 
made    him    anxious    not   to   prolong  the  interview. 
Since,  however,  he  had  a  motive  more  in  keeping 
with  his  actual  character,  as  we  know  it  from  other 
sources,  namely  the  hope  of  receiving  a  large  bribe 
from  a  man  who  had  evidently  a  number  of  attached 
friends,  he  continued  to  send  and  converse  with  him. 
But  as  Paul  never  took  advantage  of  these  confi- 
dential interviews  for  the  end  Felix  had  in  mind, 
there  was  nothing  to  outweigh  his  desire,  fostered 
perhaps  by  his  Jewish  wife,  but  at  least  equally  by 
the  need  of  wiping  out  old  bad  scores,  to  do  a  cheap 
favor  to  the  Jews.     And  so  Paul  lingered  on  for  full 
two  years  of  comparative  confinement  and  inactivity. 
Yet  after  all  both  were  only  partial.    Paul  could  never 
be  uninfluential.     There  must  have  been  a  constant 
coming  and  going,  which  had  its  focus  in  the  pree- 
tnrium  at  Csesarea  and  for  its  circumference  only  the 
limits  of  the  Pauline  missions.     And  one  can  hardly 
be   wrong  in  imagining  the  Philippians  and  others 
sending  financial  aid  to  their  Apostle's  needs  here,  as 
later   at   Rome  (Phil.  iv.  10  ff.).     For  the  delegates 
who  had  come   up  with    him   to  Jerusalem    would 
carry  home  the   news  of  what  had  occurred.     It  is 
true  that  we  may  not,  with  some  scholars,  assign 


168  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

either  the  Ephesian  or  the  Colossian  Epistle  to  this 
period.  Yet  one  can  hardly  doubt  that  similar  letters, 
chiefly  of  a  more  temporary  bearing,  were  despatched 
by  him  on  whom  was  still  "  the  care  of  the  churches." 
But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  does  Acts  pass  over  so 
much  that  would  have  been  to  us  of  the  deepest 
interest?  In  view  of  its  fulness  at  this  stage  both 
before  and  after,  only  one  answer  can  hold  good,  and 
this  takes  us  to  the  very  heart  of  the  problems  con- 
nected with  the  book  itself.  It  was  written  on  a 
plan — a  plan  which  determines  both  the  expansion 
and  the  condensation  so  noticeable.  To  us  the 
narrative  of  events  connected  with  Paul's  arrest,  his 
successive  hearings,  and  his  voyage  to  Rome  to  stand 
his  final  trial,  seems  needlessly  prolix.  Interesting 
as  the  details  are  in  themselves,  we  grudge  their 
space  in  the  whole  book,  of  which  they  occupy 
nearly  a  fourth.  We  must  indeed  allow  something  for 
the  fact  that  for  the  voyage  itself  the  material  avail- 
able was  specially  abundant — whether  derived  from 
a  diary  or  from  the  memory  of  the  eyewitness,  to 
whom  his  sea-experiences  stood  out  with  special  vivid- 
ness, as  may  be  seen  also  in  the  voyage  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem. But  then  the  author  of  Acts  is  not  an  unre- 
flective  person,  apt  to  let  his  materials  run  away 
with  him.  All  agree  that  he  presents  us  with  no 
mere  series  of  documents  and  stories  loosely  strung 
together,  as  in  Herodotus,  but  with  an  artistic  unity  : 
so  that  in  the  last  resort  we  must  reckon,  not  so 
much  with  the  materials  as  with  a  resultant  deter- 
mined by  unity  of  conception.  From  what  stand- 
point, then,  does   our  author's  use  of  all  this  space 


The  End  Hinted.  169 

become  natural,  especially  in  view  of  the  repetitions 
involved  in  Paul's  appearance  before  successive 
tribunals  on  the  same  issue  ?  Only  from  that  already 
hinted  at  more  than  once,  namely  emphasis  on  the 
contrasted  attitudes  of  Jewish  and  Roman  authori- 
ties to  the  representatives  of  the  new  religion.  This 
•contrast  has  now  reached  its  final  climax,  and  our 
author  wishes  all  readers  duly  to  appreciate  the  fact 
(cf.  xxviii.  18). 

If  we  ask,  further,  why  he  was  so  anxious  that 
this  lesson  should  be  impressed  on  men's  minds,  we 
shall,  if  at  all  alive  to  the  practical  interest  of  all 
primitive  Christian  literature,  conclude  that  it  had 
an  important  bearing  on  the  actual  conditions  of  the 
Church  in  his  own  day.  Its  moral  was  the  message 
for  the  times,  and  this  both  for  Empire  and  for 
Church.  To  put  it  plainly,  the  Empire  was  vexing 
the  Church,  and  the  Church  was  deeply  resenting 
the  injustice  of  such  war  upon  the  saints — a  resent- 
ment which  runs  through  the  Apocalypse  like  a  growl 
of  thunder  before  the  avenging  storm.  And  to  both 
sides  Luke's  answer  and  appeal  is  the  same.  "  Know 
your  true  relations  as  writ  large  on  the  face  of  earlier 
and  better  times,  when  the  founders  of  the  Church 
were  persecuted  indeed  by  the  Jews,  but  exonerated 
from  all  fault  and  shielded  by  the  impartial  tribunals 
of  the  Empire.  Why  should  it  not  be  so  now? 
Such  are  the  normal  relations  between  the  two  great 
orders  ordained  of  God — the  civil  and  the  spiritual — 
apart  from  the  perverse  imperial  policy  of  the  hour, 
which  must  change  once  more  if  only  the  truth  can  get 
its  voice   heard.     And   to   this  end,  the  early  and 


170  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

long-maintained  relations  of  the  two  powers  should 
be  thoroughly  known  to  all."  Hence  the  special 
fitness  of  the  dedication  to  a  believer  of  high  rank 
("  your  Excellency,  Theophilus "),  through  whom 
this  historic  defence  could  best  reach  official  cir- 
cles and  the  public  at  large. 

So  far  then  we  have  an  adequate  reason  for  tliis 
series  of  hearings,  which  all  end  in  various  Roman 
officials  pronouncing  the  typical  Christian  inno- 
cent ;  so  that  it  looked  like  a  mere  accident  that  he 
was  not  set  free  after  the  last  and  fullest  of  the 
series.  For  the  final  word  of  those  actually  related 
is  Agrippa's  remark  to  Festus  :  "  This  man  could 
have  been  set  at  liberty  at  once,  had  he  not  appealed 
to  Caesar."  There  is  an  ominous  ring  in  these  words, 
occurring  in  so  purposeful  and  allusive  a  work  as 
Acts,  which,  taken  along  with  certain  hints  dropped 
in  the  narrative  of  the  journey  to  Jerusalem,  can 
hardly  point  to  any  but  one  conclusion.  And  this 
is,  that  Paul  made  a  mistake  in  judgment  in  appeal- 
ing to  the  then  Csesar,  the  youthful  Nero.  In  this 
light,  the  abrupt  ending  of  the  book  is  natural  and 
indeed  masterty,  being  in  fact  a  suggestive  ajwsio- 
pesis,  a  stopping  short  where  thought  by  the  very 
silence  is  urged  on  to  fill  in  the  sequel  for  itself — in 
this  case  a  tragic  contrast,  which  all  concerned  would 
know.  And  their  knowledge  of  its  author,  as  one 
whose  acts  no  wise  man  could  cite  as  precedents, 
would  lead  them  to  regard  such  silence  as  a  suppres- 
sion not  of  essential  truth  but  of  a  hideous  excep- 
tion. For  Nero's  action  and  the  State's  policy  were 
by  no  means  synonymous  to  the  Empire  in  general, 


The  End  of  Acts.  1Y1 

much  less  to  a  Christian  writer  who  must  needs  re- 
gard his  condemnation  of  Paul  as  a  personal  freak, 
parallel  to  that  in  which  he  made  sport  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  his  Vatican  gardens.  The  cases  may  not 
really  have  been  at  all  parallel,  as  quite  probably 
Paul  was  put  to  death  in  pursuance  of  the  habitual 
Roman  severity  toward  anything  that  seemed  to 
menace  public  order,  especially  among  an  inflam- 
mable people  like  the  Jews.  But  the  point  is,  that  a 
Christian  who  did  not  see  or  admit  the  rationale  of 
the  later  Roman  policy  toward  his  fellows,  would 
judge  otherwise,  just  as  we  represent  our  author  as 
doing. 

Professor  Ramsay  indeed  draws  another  conclusion, 
namely  that  Luke  projected  a  sequel  (making  the 
third  of  the  Trilogy  to  which  he  supposes  Acts  i.  1 
to  point),  showing  how  Paul's  appeal  actually  suc- 
ceeded. But  this  theory  seems  to  stultify  our 
author's  studied  reference  to  Paul's  confident  fore- 
bodings about  the  issue  of  the  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
and  particularly  that  at  Miletus  (xx.  25,  38)  ;  it  is  an 
assumption  to  which  the  comprehensive  programme 
of  Acts  i.  8  gives  no  countenance  (cf.  xix.  21) ;  and 
it  has  against  it  the  law  of  proportion,  in  that 
Ramsay  himself  allows  only  some  seven  or  eight 
years  at  most  to  this  third  work  (as  compared  with 
more  than  thirty  to  Acts)  ere  Paul  finally  succumbs 
to  the  stroke  of  Nero's  executioner.  Then  after  all, 
the  old  difficulty,  if  difficulty  it  be,  crops  up  at  the 
later  date ;  since  Ramsay  regards  this  martyrdom  as 
really  due  not  to  any  freak  of  Nero's,  but  to  a  legal 
process  then  fully  recognized.    So  that  the  Christian 


172  The  Ajyostolic  Age. 

apology  would  still  limp,  at  the  end  of  the  extra 
book,  as  regards  its  strict  cogenc}'  to  a  Roman 
mind.  It  is  better  not  to  multiply  hypotheses,  but 
to  take  Acts  as  the  final  ending  of  its  author's  in- 
tended account  of  the  Christian  Origins.1 

(b)   To  Home :  the  Martyrdom  (Acts  xxv.-xxviii.). 

Over  the  final  stage  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at 
Csesarea,  after  the  supersession  of  Felix  by  Porcius 
Festus,2  there  is  no  need  to  linger.  For  it  adds  noth- 
ing of  moment  to  our  understanding  of  the  Apostolic 
Age,  while  the  record  speaks  for  itself  as  it  stands  in 
our  bibles.  Nor  is  it  otherwise  with  the  long  and 
minute  account  of  the  voyage  to  Rome.  Its  main 
lessons  alone  concern  us,  such  as  the  vivid  sense  of 
Paul's  greatness  amid  the  trying  details  of  an  un- 
propitious  sea-journey,  ending  in  a  storm  and  ship- 
wreck, and  the  reflection  of  the  impression  produced 
upon  the  Roman  centurion  who  was  one  of  the  party. 
All  this  serves  to  make  Paul  enter  Rome  in  a  sort  of 
strange  triumph,  so  fulfilling  the  forecast  of  Acts  i.  8. 
Not  only  does  the  original  here  even  excel  itself  in 
vividness,  but   the   story  has  recently  been  retold 

1  The  case  really  stands  here  as  it  does  in  Luke's  Gospel,  where 
emphasis  is  laid  on  the  repeated  declarations  of  Jesus'  innocence 
prior  to  the  account  of  His  actual  death  through  a  failure  of  justice 
(xxiii.  2,  4,  14,  22-25). 

a  This  procurator's  arrival  has  been  by  many  taken  as  a  fixed 
point  in  Pauline  chronology ;  but  probably  without  sufficient 
ground,  seeing  that  there  is  contradiction  between  Tacitus  and 
Josephus  on  the  point  (due  perhaps  to  guessing  on  the  latter's 
part).  A  discussion  of  the  pros  and  cons  may  be  found  in  the 
Expositor,  Fifth  Series,  Vol.  vii.  aud  Hastings'  Bible  Dictionary 
(1898),  art.  "Chronology." 


Some  Incidents  of  the  Voyage.  173 

with  great  spirit  and  accuracy  in  an  admirable  chap- 
ter of  Ramsay's  book  on  St.  Paul  as  traveler  and 
Roman  citizen. 

For  our  present  purpose,  then,  only  a  few  special 
points  call  for  notice.  Very  happily  does  Ramsay's 
paraphrase  catch  the  tone  of  Festus,  as  a  typical 
Roman,  toward  Paul's  Gospel,  with  its  climax  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  as  pledged  in  Christ.  "  Paul ! 
Paul!  you  are  a  great  philosopher,  but  you  have  no 
common  sense."  Typical  too  of  Paul's  readiness  to 
seize  the  most  unlikely  opening  for  his  message,  is 
the  way  in  which  he  appeals  from  the  pagan  Festus 
to  the  Jew  Agrippa  II.,  so  forcing  the  latter  to  show 
his  partial  sympathy  at  least  with  his  brother  Jew's 
faith  in  a  God  who  intervenes  in  His  people's  cause. 
"  Believest  thou,  King  Agrippa,  the  Prophets  ?  I 
know  that  thou  believest."  Well  might  the  polished 
man  of  the  world  parry  the  home  thrust  with  a  light 
deprecation  of  Paul's  "short  cut"  to  Christianity,  as 
he  phrased  it.  "A  short  way,"  quoth  he,  "you  are 
taking  to  effect  my  conversion  " — such  is  the  clear 
sense  of  his  words.  How  lively  all  this  is !  And 
how  dignified  Paul's  last  word  !  "  Would  God  that, 
whether  by  short  or  by  long  method,  not  only  thou 
but  also  all  my  hearers  to-day,  might  become  such  as 
even  I  am,  saving  these  bonds  "—suiting  the  action 
to  the  word. 

When  we  read  of  Paul's  considerable  stay  at 
Fair  Havens,  "nigh  to  which  was  a  city  Lasea," 
waiting  for  a  change  in  the  wind,  we  ask  ourselves, 
"Is  it  not  to  this  sojourn  in  Crete,  all  too  brief  to 
secure  permanence  for  the  seed  sown  by  Paul  him- 


- 


-■ 
I 

: 


■ 
-    - 

IUT 


>I_i  .. 


;  : 

- 


:■-  -  . 


- 


■    .».- 


.      J  '71.  IT* 

I     .  -    is   quite  iu: 
offi.  _         i  or  He*  .  by  which  the  ruler 

the  isle  Ls  oiled,  has  inscription*!  corroboration. 

Aud  this  notice  is  all  of  a  piece  with  the  g  by 

prayer  aud  layiug-ou  of  hands  of  this  official's  father, 
an  incident  illustrating  aud  illustrated  by  the  usage 
alluded  to  in  James  v.  14 

The  worses    leaf  ribing  the  journey  be 

rith  defi  - :  which 

refer  to  two  points  only.     First  one  gathers  that 
there  w..-  _     ip  of  M  brethren  "  at  Put-. 

who  showed  the  wouted  Christian  I    -  and 

next,  that  the  Roman  Christians  or  some  of  them 
could  not  but  go  out   to  meet  the  author  of  the 
B  Romans — heartiness  which  greatly  en- 
couraged the  Apostle's  much-tried  spirit. 

Paul's  confinement  at  Rome  was  even  less  irksome 
than  at  Cssarea ;  for  he  was  allowed  to  live  in  lodg- 

.  -  i  .  vn  hiring,  though  u-  -       i     race 

of  a  soldier  responsible  for  his  appearing  wheu 
needed.     Of  course   the  fact  that   lie  was  actv. 

-:ened  to  this  guardian  by  a  light  wrist-chain  n 
have  been  most  trying.  But  we  may  imagine  how 
-  d  Paul  would  by  his  bearing  win  the  regard  of 
the  men  told  off  to  this  duty,  and  perhaps  even  the 
hearts  of  some  of  them  for  his  Gospel,  and  so  t:  &■ 
figure  their     lose  ass  n  into  one  of  spiritual 

brotherhood.     In  a-  B  not  allowed  to  go 

out  fre.  .    BOold  enjoy  the  free  access  of  friends 

and  of  any  whom  he  might  attract  to  his  side. 

It  was  quite  natural  for  him  to  wish  to  conciliate 
the  sympathy  of  the  local  Jews  for  his  own  person 


176  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

and  for  Lis  Gospel,  ere  word  from  Jerusalem  or  work 
among  Gentiles  in  Rome  should  make  both  impos- 
sible. And  so  he  invited  their  leading  men  to  meet 
him.  The  account  of  this  interview  is  not  free  from 
difficulties,  which  some  suppose  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  "  we "  source,  being  a  diary  of  travel,  was  no 
longer  available.  Yet  our  ignorance  of  the  relations 
of  Judaism  and  Judseo- Christianity  in  Rome  at  this 
date  may  make  us  pause  before  drawing  negative 
conclusions.  It  is  certainly  to  us  surprising  that  the 
Jewish  leaders  should  profess  themselves  both  un- 
aware of  the  case  against  Paul  (in  spite  of  the  con- 
stant intercourse  between  Jews  in  Rome  and  Jeru- 
salem) and  in  the  dark  as  to  the  nature  of  the  Chris- 
tian "sect,"  of  whose  existence  and  general  bad  name 
among  Jews  they  were  perfectly  conscious.  But  if 
we  assume,  as  is  probable,  that  the  Gospel  of  "  Mes- 
siah Jesus  "  had  spread  mainly  among  the  poorer  and 
non-official  class  of  Jews  in  Rome,  where  it  simply 
filtered  in  gradually  and  did  not  come  with  the  ad- 
vent of  any  marked  personality  (as  we  gather  from 
Romans) — then  we  can  understand  how  Jewish  lead- 
ers might  have  ignored  it,  save  as  a  fanatical  move- 
ment or  new  sect  in  the  lower  ranks  of  their  com- 
patriots. And  of  such  things  Judaism  was  by  no 
means  intolerant.  They  may,  then,  have  simply  left 
it  severely  alone  as  unworthy  of  serious  or  official 
notice.  But  when  they  were  confronted  by  a  man 
obviously  of  good  breeding  and  learning  in  the 
schools,  who  openly  emphasized  his  belief  in  this  as 
the  very  "  Hope  of  Israel  "  and  the  sole  cause  of  his 
breach  with  the  Palestinian  authorities,  it  was  quite 


PauVs  Preaching  in  Rome.  177 

another  thing.  Curiosity  as  to  the  actual  nature  of 
the  despised  movement  might  well  replace  superior 
indifference.1  Appointing  a  day,  they  returned  to 
his  lodgings  in  considerable  numbers,  and  listened 
from  morn  to  eve  as  Paul  set  forth  his  testimony  to 
"the  Kingdom  of  God,"  adducing  both  the  Law  and 
the  Prophets  as  proof  that  Jesus  really  fulfilled  the 
Messianic  promises.  Part  were  inclined  to  believe, 
part  to  disbelieve;  and  there  was  some  discussion  be- 
tween them  on  the  subject.  As  they  were  on  the 
point  of  departing,  Paul  quoted  as  a  final  warning 
the  prophetic  word  in  which  Isaiah's  largely  inef- 
fectual mission  to  their  forefathers  is  announced 
(Is.  vi.  9  f.),  as  reminder  that  their  rejection  might 
reflect  on  them  rather  than  upon  the  message  re- 
jected. Once  more,  on  a  highly  representative  occa- 
sion, did  the  Apostle  realize  afresh  the  call  of  the 
Gentiles  in  contrast  to  the  deafness  of  the  Chosen 
People.  And  the  last  words  of  his  which  our  his- 
torian selects  for  record  embody  this,  the  main  moral 
of  the  whole  narrative  of  the  Apostolic  foundation 
of  the  New  Israel,  the  Christian  Church. 

The  term  is  reached :  the  programme  of  i.  8  is  in 

1  To  this  there  seems  only  one  real  objection,  namely  the  Mes- 
sianic disturbances,  probably  marking  the  arrival  of  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus  in  the  Roman  ghetto,  which  occasioned  the  edict  under 
which  Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  left  the  city  some  ten  years  be- 
fore. Could  this  have  failed  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  local 
Jewish  authorities  to  the  new  ferment  working  among  the  masses? 
We  should  have  expected  that  it  would  lead  to  a  definite  notion 
of  its  nature  in  their  minds.  Yet  we  cannot  insist,  in  the  face 
of  positive  evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  so  it  must  have  been. 
Besides  they  very  possibly  professed  more  ignorance  on  the  point 
than  was  needful,  in  order  to  draw  out  Paul's  clearer  statement. 
L 


178  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

principle  fulfilled.  Accordingly  the  historian  simply 
adds  that  the  forecast  of  Gentile  receptiveness  found 
actual  realization  in  a  two  years'  ministry,  during 
which  Paul  preached  in  his  lodgings  to  all  comers,  and 
taught  "  the  things  touching  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
with  all  freedom  of  speech,  unhindered."  The  centre 
of  gravity  in  the  New  Ecclesia  has  been  gradually 
shifting;  and  we  are  left  with  the  suggestion  that 
the  centre  of  the  heathen  world  is  destined  to  super- 
sede the  capital  of  Judsea  as  the  centre  of  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

But  though  Acts  itself  enters  into  no  details  touch- 
ing these  two  years,  with  which  it  thus  significantly 
breaks  off,  we  are  able  to  fill  in  a  good  deal  from 
Paul's  own  letters  written  during  the  period.  Of 
these  Ephesians,  Colossians  and  Philemon  go  together 
in  a  group ;  while  Philippians  stands  apart  by  itself 
both  as  to  contents  and  date.  Though  the  broad  fea- 
tures of  Paul's  situation,  as  regards  both  Roman 
Christianity  and  the  fortunes  of  his  imprisonment, 
are  fairly  clear  in  any  case,  a  good  deal  depends 
upon  whether  we  view  Philippians  as  preceding  or 
as  succeeding  the  group  just  named.  What  follows 
is  based  on  the  latter  assumption,  which  may  per- 
haps justify  itself  by  its  superior  qualities  as  a  work- 
ing hypothesis. 

Another  literary  problem,  of  greater  difficulty  and 
complexity,  upon  which  certain  personal  details  in 
our  picture  will  depend,  is  that  touching  the  date 
and  origin  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  to  Timothy  and 
Titus  respectively.     Our  own  tentative  solution  is 


The  Ephesian  Church.  179 

discussed  at  length  in  the  Literary  Appendix;  and 
we  are  not  without  hope  that  in  the  harmony  of  the 
picture  which  it  enables  us  here  to  present  may  be 
found  the  best  justification  of  the  theory  itself.  But 
it  is  to  be  frankly  recognized  that  the  personal  rela- 
tions involved  in  the  following  narrative  are  put  for- 
ward as  necessarily  provisional. 

In  what  has  been  said  touching  Paul's  doings  since 
leaving  Corinth  early  in  56  (57),  it  has  seejned  best 
to  adhere  closely  to  Acts  as  it  hurries  the  apostle  on, 
from  point  to  point,  with  his  face  ever  turned  to  Rome 
via  Jerusalem :  for  this  is  true  to  the  inward  tend- 
ency of  his  own  spirit  and  of  the  Gospel  of  which  he 
was  the  impersonation.  But  there  were  plans  within 
plans  in  the  great  missionary's  activity :  he  never  for- 
gets old  friends  or  interests,  even  where  dreaming  of 
yet  greater  enterprises.  And  so  we  must  return  for  a 
little  upon  his  track,  to  mark  two  side  episodes 
which  have  their  sequel  in  his  life  in  Rome.  The 
former  of  these  has  its  record  in  1  Timothy,  the  lat- 
ter is  involved  in  the  letter  to  Titus. 

When  Paul  left  Ephesus  for  the  last  time,  about 
Pentecost,  i.  e.,  early  summer,  in  the  year  55  (56), 
things  were  by  no  means  in  a  settled  condition  in 
the  Ephesian  Church.  Hence  in  setting  out  for 
Macedonia,  he  not  only  "  sent  for  the  disciples  and 
exhorted  them  "  (Acts  xx.  1),  but  also  begged  Tim- 
othy to  stay  on  for  a  time  and  repress  unwholesome 
tendencies  which  had  their  roots  in  Jewish  prejudices 
of  quite  another  order  than  those  which  have  already 
met  us  in  Palestinian  circles.  Those  now  in  ques- 
tion   did   not  tend   to  formal  Judaizing,  but  to  a 


180  The  Apostolic  Age. 


morbidly  curious  state  of  mind,  busied  with  legends 
touching  things  like  the  patriarchal  genealogies  just 
mentioned  in  Genesis,1  topics  which  fostered  fanciful 
wranglings  without  at  all  promoting  godliness  of  life 
(1  Tim.  i.  3  f.).  Timothy  seems  on  this  occasion  to 
have  stayed  but  a  short  space  before  joining  Paul  in 
Macedonia,  in  time  to  be  named  in  the  address  of  2 
Corinthians ;  and  then  to  have  accompanied  him  to 
Corinth,  since  he  joins  in  the  salutations  at  the  end 
of  Romans.  Thence  he  sailed  with  the  bearers  of 
the  Collection  to  await  Paul  at  Troas.  But  there 
is  no  sign  that  he  accompanied  the  party  past 
Ephesus,  to  Jerusalem.  Things  were  by  no  means 
looking  healthy  at  Ephesus,  as  we  learn  from  the 
apostle's  address  to  its  elders,  whom  he  summoned 
to  Miletus  by  a  message  of  which  Timothy  was  per- 
haps the  bearer.  How  natural  that  he  should  leave 
Timothy  to  continue  the  work  committed  to  him  on 
the  former  occasion. 

We  may  suppose,  then,  that  1  Timothy  was 
written  on  board  ship  at  or  soon  after  leaving  Miletus, 
to  supplement  such  hurried  instructions  as  Paul  had 
been  able  to  give  his  lieutenant  before  sending  him 
to  Ephesus.  The  report  of  the  elders  would  supply 
fresh  data.  The  pressing  need  of  the  Ephesian 
church  was  a  more  "  wholesome  "  piety,  a  matter  of 
"love  out  of  a  pure  heart  and  a  good  conscience  and 
faith  unfeigned  " — concerned  with  the  great  central 
facts  of  redemption,  in  contrast  with  "  empty  talk  " 

1  An  actual  specimen  of  what  is  meant  is  found  in  the  purely 
Jewish  book  on  Biblical  Antiquities  falsely  attributed  to  Philo,  as 
also  in  the  Book  of  Jubilees. 


The  Instructions  to  Timothy.  181 

and  fine-spun  theorizings  about  the  Mosaic  Law 1 
(i.  5-7).  And  to  this  end  it  was  incumbent  on 
Timothy  to  hand  on  solemnly  to  responsible  local 
leaders  the  Pauline  type  of  teaching  as  a  safeguard 
in  the  new  era,  when  the  after  results  of  old  tra- 
ditional ideas  were  beginning  to  appear  among  the 
converts,  and  when  the  Apostle's  living  presence 
was  being  withdrawn  to  other  fields.  It  was,  if  we 
can  only  realize  it,  a  very  critical  moment,  calling 
loudly  for  such  definite  instructions  to  a  young 
colleague,  and  so  for  the  first  specimen  of  a  new 
class  of  letter,  no  longer  to  a  church,  but  to  the 
special  apostolic  delegate  for  a  season  in  its  midst. 
Paul  is  not  indeed  without  hope  of  being  able  to 
take  Ephesus  on  his  way  to  Rome  (iii.  14,  iv.  13). 
Yet  the  solemnity  with  which  he  hands  on  "the 
deposit"  of  his  authentic  Gospel — in  opposition  to  a 
pretentious  "  knowledge "  of  things  divine,  the 
ethical  emptiness  of  which  betrayed  a  lack  of  real 

1  As  "  the  myths  and  interminahle  genealogies  "  of  i.  4  point  to 
the  legendary  amplifications  of  Old  Testament  history  (Haggada) 
characteristic  of  the  later  Judaism  ;  so  the  aspects  of  the  Law  here 
in  view  are  probably  the  earlier  stage  of  "  the  distinctive  lore  of  a 
class  of  canonists  and  casuists,"  developments  based  on  the  Law 
and  touching  things  morally  indifferent  (Halacha),  which  appear 
full  blown  in  the  Talmud.  This  may  even  account  for  the  phrase 
"the  antitheses  of  falsely  styled  knowledge  "  (gnosis,  vi.  20,  cf. 
John  vii.  49),  referring  to  the  rival  dicta  of  the  "Wise.  The  view 
has  at  least  the  merit  of  reckoning  with  known  tendencies  in 
Judaism  which  could  hardly  but  react  on  Christianity  (see  Hort, 
Judaistic  Christianity,  130  ff.).  Acts  xx.  29  seems  to  refer  to 
Judaizing  teachers  in  speaking  of  the  entering  in  of  "grievous 
wolves"  ;  while  the  emergence  from  among  the  local  converts  of 
"men  speaking  perverse  things"  points  to  Greek  tendencies 
to  dualism,  both  speculative  and  practical. 


182  The  Apostolic  Age. 

reverence — shows  the  misgivings  he  could  not  over- 
come. 

That  a  letter  written  so  soon  after  parting  and 
dealing  so  largely  with  official  duties,  should  be 
devoid  of  salutations,  need  not  surprise  us.  Quite 
probably,  however,  a  little  note,  a  Postscript  or 
informal  enclosure,  was  sent  along  with  the  letter 
meant  for  more  permanent  use  and  reference.  For 
the  words,  "  Erastus  stayed  in  Corinth,  but  Trophi- 
mus  I  left  at  Miletus  sick,"  could  only  have  been 
written  from  the  near  neighborhood  of  the  latter 
place.  And  its  proximity  to  Ephesus  would  make 
such  news  absurdly  stale  to  Timothy  long  ere  it  could 
reach  him  from  Rome,  whence  2  Timothy,  in  which 
it  is  now  preserved  (iv.  20)  among  other  miscella- 
neous items  at  the  end,  was  actually  despatched. 
Accordingly  the  verse  is  clearly  out  of  place  in  its 
present  setting,  having  been  attracted  thither  by 
apparent  affinity,  while  it  exactly  fits  the  situation 
just  suggested.  Erastus,  Timothy's  late  associate 
on  collection  business  (Acts.  xix.  22),  had  been 
unable  to  join  the  party  as  an  almoner  from  Corinth  ; 
while  at  the  last  moment  Trophimus  had  fallen  sick 
and  could  not  sail  with  Paul  from  Miletus,  though 
he  was  soon  able  to  proceed  and  join  him  at  Jerusalem 
(xxi.  29). 

Very  similar  are  the  conditions  which  best  explain 
the  origin  of  the  letter  to  Titus.  On  the  voyage  to 
Rome  Paul's  ship  was  driven  by  stress  of  weather  to 
anchor  at  the  Fair  Havens  in  Crete.  Hard  by  was 
the  city  of  Lasea ;  and  Paul  was  thus  brought  into 
touch  with   such  Christianity  as  already  existed  in 


Origin  of  the  Letter  to  Titus.  183 

the  island,  during  the  "considerable  time"  of  his 
enforced  stay.  He  found  things  in  a  very  rudi- 
mentary state  ;  and  probably  at  the  request  of  the 
local  Christians  left  his  tried  associate  Titus  to  help 
them  towards  fuller  and  purer  faith,  and  such  a 
degree  of  organization  as  was  now  felt  needful. 
But  all  had  been  very  hasty;  and  Titus  soon  found 
problems  cropping  up  which  he  was  glad  to  refer  to 
Paul  for  advice.  These,  to  judge  from  the  reply, 
were  mainly  twofold :  some  were  rooted  in  the 
unethical  tendencies  for  which  the  Cretans  were 
proverbial  even  among  the  Greeks ;  while  others 
arose  from  Jewish  fancies  similar  to  those  that 
troubled  the  Ephesian  church  (i.  10-16,  iii.  9).  The 
letter  of  advice  is  on  the  same  lines  as  1  Timothy, 
only  here  we  have  mention  of  several  personal  mat- 
ters. In  his  inexperience  of  the  delays  in  the  im- 
perial Court  of  Appeal,  Paul  is  already  anticipating 
being  able  to  winter  at  Nicopolis  (probably  Actium 
in  Epirus);  and  he  wants  Titus  to  meet  him  there 
as  soon  as  he  receives  word  through  Artemas  or 
Tychicus.  Meantime  he  bids  him  further  "  Zenas 
the  lawyer  and  Apollos,"  the  bearers  of  the  letter, 
on  their  journey — possibly  to  Palestine,  to  gather 
evidence  in  his  favor.  This  is  highly  suggestive',  in 
relation  to  the  theory  that  Apollos  may  have  been 
the  author  of  the  epistle  to  "  the  Hebrews."  It  also 
brings  out  the  value  Paul  attached  to  acts  of  broth- 
erly love  among  Christians,  since  he  bids  Titus  get 
"our  folk"  to  take  in  hand  fair  deeds,  such  as  that 
for  which  the  needs  of  journeying  brethren  gave 
scope.     The  letter,  then,  may  be  dated  roughly  to 


1S4  The  Apostolic  Age. 


early  summer  59  (60) :  and  we  may  imagine  that 
Apollos  had  hastened  from  Corinth  to  Paul's  side 
soon  after  his  arrival  in  Rome  quite  early  in  that  year. 

But  the  apostle  was  to  have  long  trial  of  his 
patience,  between  being  handed  over  by  Julius  to  the 
head  of  his  department  {Princeps  peregrinorum,  the 
Stratopedarch  of  some  manuscripts  in  Acts  xxviii. 
16),  that  of  soldiers  on  detached  special  service,  and 
being  actually  tried.  He  had,  in  fact,  arrived  at  an 
untimely  moment  in  the  history  of  Nero's  principate. 
The  first  "  five  years,"  during  which  his  policy  was 
mainly  guided  by  his  old  tutor  Seneca  in  concert 
with  Burr ns,  the  praetorian  prefect,  were  expiring — 
had  already  expired,  if  it  was  in  60  rather  than  59 
when  Paul  reached  Rome.  It  was  early  in  59  that 
Nero  put  his  own  mother  Agrippina  to  death  and 
fell  ever  more  and  more  under  the  influence  of 
Poppaea,  the  mistress  who  finally  secured  first  the 
divorce  and  then  the  murder  of  his  consort  Octavia 
(June  62).  Poppaea  had  strong  leanings  to  Judaism, 
and  on  several  occasions  interfered  in  the  Jewish 
cause.  Accordingly  the  chance  of  an  early  and  fair 
trial  for  such  a  case  as  Paul's  was  never  less.  Early 
in  62  Burrus  also  died  and  was  succeeded  as  prefect 
by  Tigellinus,  one  of  Nero's  most  abandoned  asso- 
ciates— a  fact  of  significance  if  the  case  came  on  as  late 
as  62,  since  Poppaea  and  Tigellinus  were  close  allies. 

In  the  summer  of  the  first  year1  of  Paul's  stay  in 

1  An  early  date  best  suits  the  opening  door  of  Col.  iv.  3.  The 
view  that  this  was  in  59  rather  than  60  is  somewhat  confirmed  by 
the  fact  that  Tacitus  assigns  to  60  the  ruin  of  Laodicea  by  an 
earthquake,  some  allusion  to  which  might  be  expected  in  letters 
to  the  region  shortly  after  that  date. 


Jewish  and  Pagan  Notions   Compared.       185 


Rome  there  seems  to  have  arrived  news  from  a 
quarter  and  of  a  kind  hitherto  beyond  our  ken.  It 
came  from  an  inland  district  of  the  province  of 
Asia,  which  had  been  widely  influenced  during 
Paul's  residence  at  Ephesus.  There  in  the  valley  of 
the  Lycus,  a  tributary  of  the  Mseander  which  flows 
westward  into  the  iEgean  Sea  near  Miletus,  several 
churches  had  sprung  up,  partly  at  least  under  the 
fostering  care  of  Epaphras.  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis 
are  alluded  to  in  the  Colossian  Epistle,  and  meet 
us  again  in  subsequent  Christian  literature.  But  it 
was  the  affairs  of  Colossae,  the  remotest  of  the  three, 
that  chiefly  brought  Epaphras  to  Rome.  All  these 
cities  had  a  large  trade  in  dyed  wools  in  particular, 
and  had  numerous  Jewish  settlers.  Their  presence 
was  the  special  cause  at  once  of  the  root  so  early 
taken  by  the  Gospel  in  that  region  and  of  the  doc- 
trinal aberrations  which  reflect  themselves  in  Paul's 
letter.  But  there  were  other  traditional  influences  at 
work,  pagan  in  character,  yet  parallel  in  religious 
tendency  with  the  local  Judaism.  Indeed  at  this 
time,  and  in  Asia  Minor  as  much  as  anywhere,  there 
was  much  mutual  assimilation  in  religions  differing 
in  origin  but  existing  side  by  side.  In  writing  to 
the  "  Galatians,"  in  a  region  not  so  far  from  the 
Lycus  Valley  in  place  or  feeling,  Paul  had  virtually 
compared  the  Jewish  and  pagan  notions  of  religious 
observance  in  what  he  writes  in  Gal.  iv.  3-11.  But 
they  are  no  less  the  real  causes  which  explain  the 
apparently  sudden  emergence  of  alien  or  perverted 
features  in  other  Pauline  communities.  The  re- 
crudescence   of  old   religious  thought  and  unchal- 


186  The  Apostolic  Age. 

lenged  instincts  in  the  converts,  is  the  secret  of  the 
larger  part  of  the  phenomena  which  surprise  us  in 
the  Pauline  Epistles,  where  the  great  missionary 
is  engaged,  like  every  foreign  missionary  to-day,  in 
uprooting  the  rank  undergrowth  of  new  fields  al- 
ready annexed  by  the  Gospel. 

Here,  then,  as  among  the  Galatians,  we  find  men 
who  were  good  Christians  at  heart,  but  who,  having 
been  freed  from  a  hard  ceremonial  law,  "  put  them- 
selves once  more  into  the  bonds  of  another  cere- 
monial law,  equally  hard."  The  inducement  dif- 
fered somewhat  in  the  two  cases.  The  Galatians 
were  "  bewitched  "  by  Judaizers  of  a  narrow  zeal  for 
the  Mosaic  rites  as  national  laws  of  divine  origin. 
The  Colossians  were  swayed  rather  by  an  ascetic 
motive,  bound  up  with  a  conception  of  Salvation 
which  made  it  turn  on  the  action  of  invisible  hier- 
archies of  angelic  powers,  good  and  bad,  of  light  and 
darkness,  in  whose  hands  by  Divine  ordinance  lay 
the  control  of  human  destiny.  This  mode  of  thought 
was  common  to  Judaism  and  paganism  in  these  as  in 
many  other  regions,  and  has  left  its  record  in  works 
of  Jewish  origin.1  Thus  there  can  be  little  question 
that  the  Colossian  errors  were  in  the  main  due  to 
ideas  already  at  work  in  the  local  Judaism,  and  were 
not  at  all  what  is  usually  styled  "  Gnostic  "  in  origin.2 

1  To  the  Essenes  by  the  Dead  Sea  and  elsewhere,  and  the 
Egyptian  Therapeutre,  we  may  now  add  the  type  of  thought 
found  in  the  Testament  of  Solomon. 

2 Even  the  reference  to  some  outsider  who  was  trying  to  get 
them  to  accept  his  "philosophy,"  which  Paul  styles  "  vain  deceit 
after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  elements  of  the  world  and 
not  after  Christ"  (ii.  8),  does  not  negative  this.     For  "philoso- 


Epaphras1  Report  of  the   Cohssians.  187 

It  is,  indeed,  probable  that  the  traditional  notion  of 
Gnosticism,  as  an  outgrowth  of  Greek  intellectualisni 
and  pride  in  "knowing,"  is  in  the  main  a  mistake. 
The  interest  of  Christian  gnosis  seems  ever  to  have 
been  at  bottom  practical,  the  yearning  for  salvation. 
But  inasmuch  as  the  Greek  was  apt  to  minimize  the 
place  of  moral  effort  and  discipline  in  human  perfec- 
tion, his  methods  of  "  Salvation "  were  often  one- 
sidedly  a  matter  of  knowledge,  a  knowledge  deeper 
than  the  ordinary  and  reached  through  initiation  or 
the  revelation  embodied  in  the  tradition  of  a  divinely 
authorized  hierarchy  or  society.  The  absence  of  the 
idea  of  a  genuinely  moral  emancipation,  flowing  from 
a  renewed  will,  caused  the  extremes  on  either  side 
to  be  resorted  to  in  turn  or  in  combination,  namely 
mere  enlightenment,  or  mere  external  conduct  de- 
termined by  sacred  rules  of  purity. 

Here,  then,  are  indicated  the  two  tendencies  at 
work  among  the  Colossians  as  reported  by  Epaphras 
(with  or  without  an  accompanying  letter  from  the 
church),  and  also  the  line  taken  by  Paul's  reply.  He 
shows  that  they  are  speculating  in  the  void  as  re- 
gards their  "  wisdom ;'  about  "thrones  and  lord- 
ships and  dominions  and  authorities  "  in  the  invisible 
world — through  none  of  which  had  God  actually 
transplanted  them  "out  of  the  dominion  of  dark- 
ness" into  the  realm  of  redemption  and  forgiveness 
of  sins.     This  had  been  solely  through  "  the  Son  of 

phy  "  in  the  first  century  was  often  conceived  practically,  as  a 
higher  theory  and  discipline  of  life.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  Philo 
styles  the  largely  practical  system  of  the  Essenes  "philosophy 
apart  from  the  superfluous  element  of  Greek  technicalities." 


188  The  Apostolic  Age, 

His  love,"  in  and  through  whom,  accordingly,  all 
further  progress  toward  perfection  or  maturity  of 
salvation  must  also  come  about.  He  who  had  done 
this  great  work  must  be  in  nature  incomparably 
raised  above  all  the  rest  of  the  heavenly  hierarchy, 
nay,  be  the  very  ground  of  its  being,  as  of  all  things 
visible,  the  Firstborn  in  relation  to  all  creation.  So 
that  the  adoration  of  angelic  powers,  whose  im- 
potence had  been  tested  in  the  old  days,  was 
after  His  manifestation  a  gratuitous  self-humbling, 
indicative  of  a  grovelling  habit  of  mind  and  of  an  in- 
adequate appreciation  of  the  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
In  His  death  they  had  died  "  away  from  the  material 
elements  of  the  world  "  (even  as  conceived  to  be  con- 
trolled by  angelic  beings)  into  a  new  sphere  of  being 
— to  which  rules  about  not  touching  this,  or  not 
tasting  that  (e.  g.,  wine  or  meat),  have  no  relevance. 
Their  true  sphere  was  that  realm  of  higher  aims  and 
motives  (iii.  1  ff.)  into  which  joint  resurrection  with 
Christ,  their  one  Head,  had  ushered  them.  There 
let  them  think,  feel,  will,  live ;  and  by  its  own  laws 
and  motives  alone.  It  was  a  shame  to  think  that 
Christ's  energies  in  them  needed  eking  out  by 
pitiful  ceremonial  by-laws,  like  those  they  had  re- 
nounced all  trust  in  when  they  trusted  Him  for  re- 
demption. They  had  received  of  God  through 
Christ  a  "  new  man  "  and  a  renewed  will.  Let  them 
exercise  it  in  all  its  distinctive  newness,  that  by  ex- 
ercise it  may  unfold  all  its  infinite  latent  potencies 
of  goodness  and  holiness  in  love. 

What  strikes  one,  in  addition  to  the  splendid  in- 
nerness  and  spirituality  of  this  outburst,  is  its  uni- 


General  Nature  of  Ephesians.  189 

versal  outlook,  befitting  one  gazing  forth  from  Rome, 
the  centre  of  the  world  of  men.1  The  Gospel  is 
"  fruit-bearing  and  growing  in  all  the  world,"  and 
has  virtually  been  already  "proclaimed  in  all  crea- 
turedom  under  heaven."  And  this  thought  gives 
the  dominant  note  to  the  so-called  Epistle  "  to  the 
Ephesians,"  in  reality  an  epistle  devoid  of  special 
connection  with  any  one  church,  and  so  of  personal 
salutations,  but  sent  to  the  churches  of  directly  or 
indirectly  Pauline  foundation  in  provincial  Asia. 
The  copy  that  has  reached  us  represents  the  one 
preserved  in  the  Ephesian  church  ;  yet  probably  it  is 
the  same  in  contents  as  that  to  which  reference  is 
made  in  Colossians,  when  they  are  bidden  exchange 
letters  with  the  sister  church  of  Laodicea  (iv.  18). 
The  thoughts  are  in  substance  almost  identical  in 
Colossians  and  Ephesians^  for  their  conditions  and 
the  mood  of  the  apostle's  mind  in  writing  were 
alike  :  only  the  emphasis  changes.  In  the  former  it 
falls  on  the  unique  divinity  of  Christ,  in  contrast 
to  other  heavenly  beings,  as  shown  by  His  being 
Head  of  the  Church.  In  the  latter  it  is  the  other 
aspect  that  is  placed  in  relief,  in  keeping  with  local 
needs;  namely  the  unity  and  majesty  of  the  Church 
of  which  Christ  is  the  Head,  ideally  coextensive 
with  humanity,  all  barriers  between  men  being  re- 
moved by  the  mode  of  their  reconciliation  to  the  one 
Father  through  the  one  true  Son.     Similarly  "the 

1  Those  do  not  seem  to  err  who  trace  to  this  fresh  psychological 
situation  an  influence  on  the  conscious  development  of  the 
apostle's  theological  horizon,  especially  as  regards  Christ's  place 
in  the  Universe  already  hinted  in  1  Cor.  viii.  6. 


190  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

fulness  of  Godhead  "  is  predicated  of  Christ  differ- 
ently in  the  two  writings.  In  the  former  He  is,  in 
spite  of  His  bodily  form  as  man,1  the  possessor  of 
this  fulness  as  "  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge "  ;  and  inasmuch  as  He  has  them  as  Head  of 
the  Church,  Christians  are  potentially  "fulfilled" 
therewith  in  virtue  of  their  oneness  with  Him  (ii.  3, 
9  ff.).  In  the  latter  the  Church  is  viewed  as  the 
sphere  within  which  the  latent  energies  of  the  Di- 
vine Head  are  receiving  their  realization :  so  that 
He  may  be  said  to  be  "  fulfilled "  by  it,  as  body 
needed  to  complement  the  head,  or  as  bride  in  union 
with  whom  the  bridegroom  actually  attains  a  fuller, 
larger,  more  energetic  life  (Eph.  i.  22  f.,  v.  25-32). 

Along  with  the  letter  to  the  Colossian  Christians 
collectively,  went  also  a  private  letter  to  one  of  them, 
Philemon,  whose  runaway  slave  Onesimus  had  by  a 
strange  coincidence  met  Paul  in  Rome  and  been  by 
him  converted  to  Christ.  While  willing  to  retain 
him  as  a  personal  attendant  on  himself,  the  apostle 
respects  Philemon's  prior  rights  to  his  service,  albeit 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave  will  now  be  on  an- 
other basis,  that  of  brethren  in  Christ — as  Paul 
hints  in  his  exquisitely  tactful  and  allusive  letter. 
This  has  been  called  the  model  of  a  Christian  gentle- 
man's correspondence  ;  and  its  inimitable  originality 
has  proved  a  very  sheet  anchor  to  the  claims  of  Co- 
lossians,  when  the  storm  as  to  its  genuineness  raged 
most  fiercely,  owing  to  our  ignorance  of  the  mani- 
fold conditions  of  the  age  to  which  we  can  now  see 

1  So  annulling  the  supposed  essential  dualism  of  the  spiritual 
and  material  worlds,  to  which  all  ascetic  rules  tended  to  go  back. 


Paul  Among  His  Friends.  191 

that  it  naturally  belongs.     The  two  are  linked  indis- 
solubly  by  the  personal  salutations  in  each. 

These  salutations  give  us  welcome  glimpses  of  the 
apostle's  environment.  They  tell  us  of  Aristarchus, 
a  member  of  the  Thessalonian  church,  and  a  tried 
friend  both  in  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  29)  and  on  the 
voyage  to  Rome  (xxvii.  2),  who  is  now  honorably 
mentioned  as  sharing  Paul's  confinement,  probably 
as  personal  attendant  (Col.  iv.  10), — a  pious  duty 
which  Epaphras  also  had  begun  to  share  (Philem. 
23);  of  Mark,  Barnabas'  cousin,  the  subject  of  a 
kindly  message  to  Colossae  on  some  former  occasion,1 
and  who  was  perhaps  to  pass  ere  long  by  the  Lycus 
Valley;  of  Jesus,  surnamed  Justus,  one  of  those 
many  friends  of  Paul  who,  though  otherwise  un- 
known to  us,  prove  how  large  was  his  capacity  for 
evoking  and  returning  that  noblest  friendship,  the 
oneness  of  good  men  in  a  holy  cause  to  which  they 
are  devoting  heart  and  life.  These  three  are  re- 
ferred to  as  Jews,  and  as  Paul's  sole  helpers  of  his 
own  race  at  that  time  in  Rome.  This  is  important, 
as  showing  how  aloof  Judseo-Christians  were  stand- 
ing from  him,  a  fact  of  which  we  shall  learn  more 
presently.  Of  Gentile  brethren,  besides  their  at- 
tached Epaphras,  who  yet  could  not  make  up  his 
mind  to  leave  Paul  to  return  at  once  with  the  letter, 
there  were  Luke  the  "beloved  physician,"  who  seems 
never  to  have  left  his  side  since  joining  him  at  Phil- 

1  After  the  old  confidence  had  been  restored  during  Paul's  stay 
in  Jerusalem  or  Csesarea.  This  notice  also  implies  previous  com- 
munication between  Paul  and  Colossal— a  fresh  hint  of  the  gaps  in 
our  knowledge  of  his  full  life. 


192  The  Apostolic  Age. 


ippi  more  than  three  years  before,  and  Demas.  Of 
him,  remarkably  enough,  nothing  is  said  by  way  of 
definition.1  Highly  suggestive,  too,  are  the  refer- 
ences to  "the  brethren  in  Laodicea  and  Nympha 
and  the  ecclesia  in  her  house  " ;  and  to  Archippus, 
apparently  Philemon's  son  (saluted  along  with 
Philemon's  wife  Apphia)  and  minister  in  some 
sense  to  the  saints  meeting  at  his  father's  house  in 
ColossaB.  The  question  of  such  "  churches  in  the 
house  "  must  be  considered  in  connection  with  the 
general  topic  of  early  Christian  fellowship  and  organ- 
ization. But  the  homely  and  informal  impression 
conveyed  at  first  blush  by  such  references  must  be 
duly  borne  in  mind. 

While  Tychicus  was  obviously  the  bearer  of  all 
three  letters,  we  gather  from  the  address  of  two 
of  them  that  Timothy  was  then  at  Paul's  side. 
These  personal  data,  taken  with  those  already 
referred  to,  are  our  main  clue  amid  the  obscurity 
surrounding  the  remainder  of  Paul's  days  in  Rome. 
Placing  them  alongside  the  closing  paragraphs  of 
2  Timothy,  verses  full  of  concrete  personal  detail, 
we  may  perhaps  reconstruct  a  good  deal  of  the  life 
of  the  Pauline  circle  and  learn  more  than  is  other- 
wise possible  about  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians. 

"Do  thy  diligence,"  writes  Paul  to  Timothy,  "to  come  to  me 
speedily  :  for  Demas  hath  forsaken  me  in  his  love  of  the  present 
age,  and  hath  departed  to  Thessalonica ;  Crescens  to  Galatia, 
Titus  to  Dalmatia.     Luke  alone  is  with  me.     Get  hold  of  Mark 


1  This  surely  means  that  he  was  well  known  to  the  Colossians. 
If  so,  he  was  perhaps  one  of  Paul's  helpers  in  Asia.  Little  can  be 
built  on  his  going  to  Thessalonica  (ii.  Tim.  iv.  10). 


Tlie  Desertion  of  Demas.  193 

and  bring  him  with  thee,  for  he  is  useful  to  rue  for  ministering  ; 
while  Tychicus  I  have  sent  to  Ephesns.  The  cloak  (or  'book- 
case,' as  in  Syriac  Versions)  which  I  left  in  Troas  with  Carpus 
bring  as  thou  comest,  and  the  books,  particularly  the  parchments 
[in  contrast  to  papyri].  Do  thy  diligence  to  come  before  winter. 
Eubulus  saluteth  thee,  and  Pudeus,  and  Linus,  and  Claudia,  and 
the  brethren  (as  a  whole).     The  Lord  be  with  thy  spirit." 

The  situation  is  as  follows.  Of  those  with  Paul 
when  Culossians  was  written,  Demas  has  found  the 
growing  dangers  of  association  with  the  prisoner  too 
great ;  the  rest  are  away  on  various  missions,  save 
Luke  only.  Mark  is  in  Asia,  on  the  visit  hinted  in 
Col.  iv.  10;  while  Titus  has  been  relieved  from  his 
work  in  Crete,  and  is  off  again,  this  time  to  Dalmatia, 
the  southern  part  of  Illyricum — a  hint  that  the 
Pauline  missions  were  far  more  numerous  and  wide- 
spread than  we  are  in  the  habit  of  thinking.  Finally 
Tychicus  is  on  his  way  to  Ephesus  (though  by  an 
indirect  route,  e.  g.,  by  Philippi  or  Crete),  a  fact 
which  makes  it  the  easier  for  Timothy  to  obey  the 
present  summons  and  leave.  After  finding  Mark 
somewhere,  he  is  to  call  at  Troas  and  bring  certain 
articles  left  there  by  Paul  several  years  ago.1  He  is 
to  come  at  once  if  possible,  before  winter.  Finally 
he  is  assured  of  the  remembrance  of  many  friends 
made  on  a  former  visit. 

The  general  impression  gained  of  Paul's  condition 
is  that  a  sudden  need  has  arisen  for  Timothy's 
presence,  occasioned  immediately  by  the  desertion 
of  Demas,  a  fact  which  itself  suggests  that  the 
prospects  of  his  still  delayed  trial  were  becoming 

1  In  the  hope  of  picking  them  up  on  his  expected  journey  from 
Jerusalem  to  Rome,  an  expectation  frustrated  by  his  arrest, 
M 


194  The  Apostolic  Age. 


darker.  The  time  of  year  must  be  summer,  and  not 
the  early  summer,  in  his  second  year  in  Rome. 
Doubtless  Timothy  hurried  to  Rome,  possibly  in- 
forming the  Philippians  on  his  way  of  Paul's  deso- 
late condition,  and  so  prompting  the  generous  relief 
sent  through  Epaphroditus,  of  which  we  learn  from 
Phifyjpians.  This  epistle,  in  which  Timothy  is  once 
more  associated  with  Paul,  cannot  have  been  written 
immediately  on  receipt  of  the  gift  that  showed  once 
more  the  peculiar  love  of  the  Philippian  church  and 
strangely  warmed  the  apostle's  heart.1  For  time  had 
elapsed  sufficient  at  least  to  let  them  hear  of  the  sick- 
ness which  the  zeal  of  Epaphroditus,  probably  the 
hot  haste  of  his  journey,  had  brought  upon  him 
(ii.  26  f.  30).  And  now  Epaphroditus,  so  far  con- 
valescent and  perhaps  accompanied  by  2  Luke  "  the 
beloved  physician,"  is  anxious  to  return  to  Philippi, 
in  which  there  seems  to  have  been  also  some  need 
for  his  presence,  since  Paul  speaks  of  sending 
Timothy  shortly,  to  get  news  of  their  affairs  and  so 
cheer  his  mind.     There  are  signs  in  the  epistle  itself 

1  Zalm  thinks  be  wrote  such  a  letter,  and  tbat  they  replied  iu 
a  solicitous  tone.  Paul  wrote  several  letters  to  Philippi.  This  is 
the  plain  meaning  of  Polycarp,  in  saying  that  Paul  "  wrote  to  you 
letters  {ZnuTToXds),  into  the  which  if  ye  look  diligently,  ye  shall 
be  able  to  build  yourselves  up  unto  the  faith  given  to  you" 
(Ad  Phil.  iii.  2).  It  is  most  unlikely  that  he  should  have  failed 
to  write  his  thanks  for  several  former  gifts  (iv.  15  f.) ;  while  the 
half-apology  for  repeating  his  message  of  "  good  cheer  in  the 
Lord,"  found  in  iii.  1,  points  to  a  previous  letter  of  like  purport. 
The  present  letter  was  probably  evoked  by  the  tone  of  concern  in 
one  from  them,  to  certain  phrases  of  which  he  seems  to  revert  more 
than  once  (e.  g.,  ii.  19,  "that  I  too  may  '  be  cheered '  by  learning 
your  affairs  "). 

2  This  best  accounts  for  the  omission  of  Luke's  name. 


PauVs  Isolation  at  Rome.  195 

of  a  slight  cloud  on  the  horizon,1  in  a  certain  lack  of 
harmony  among  leading  Christians,  evident  not  only 
in  the  special  message  to  two  women,  Euodia  and 
Syntyche,  but  also  in  the  emphasis  on  the  grace  of 
humility  in  the  great  passage  where  Christ  is  set 
forth  as  the  example  of  self-forgetful  love  (ii.  1  ff., 
iv.  2).  In  this  connection  we  learn  that  a  certain 
Synzygus  (on  whose  name  Paul  seems  to  play,  call- 
ing him  "  truly-named  Yoke-fellow,"  Synzygos)  and 
Clement  were  prominent  workers  at  Philippi.  On 
the  whole  then,  this  letter  is  in  the  happiest  mood, 
"  the  noblest  reflection  of  St.  Paul's  personal  char- 
acter and  spiritual  illumination,  his  large  sympathies, 
his  womanly  tenderness,  his  delicate  courtesy."  He 
forgets  his  own  troubles  and  anxieties  in  grateful 
joy  over  the  divine  fruits  visible  in  his  loved  con- 
verts; his  one  solicitude  is  to  remove  their  appre- 
hension touching  his  lot ;  the  desire  that  outweighs 
even  the  thought  of  rest  in  his  Lord's  nearer  pres- 
ence, is  that  of  being  for  a  while  longer  at  the 
service  of  his  children  in  the  gospel. 

How  great  the  victory  involved  in  such  a  spirit  at 
such  a  time,  becomes  apparent  when  we  observe  his 
actual  isolation  in  the  very  midst  of  the  large  Chris- 

1  To  what  appears  in  the  text  may  be  added  the  presence  of  a 
few  persons  not  crucified  to  carnal  tendencies  such  as  those 
already  seen  at  work  in  the  Corinthian  church  (iii.  18  f.,  cf.  i.  10). 
It  is  this,  perhaps,  which  determines  the  ideal  of  conduct  set  forth 
in  iv.  8,  which  is  nearer  than  anything  else  in  the  New  Testament 
to  the  ideal  of  the  Greek  or  Roman  gentleman  (xaloxayaOos). 
But  the  general  gladness  of  the  epistle  shows  that  the  danger  was 
but  slight,  as  was  that  of  Judaizing  influences  from  outside  (iii. 
2  ff.  cf.  the  "Christ-party"  at  Corinth,  a  type  also  warned 
against  in  Rom.  xvi.  17  f.). 


196  The  Apostolic  Age. 

tian  community  in  Rome.  This  fact  peeps  out  between 
the  lines  in  more  than  one  passage.  He  is  feeling 
the  contrast  between  the  attitude  of  Roman  Chris- 
tians to  him  and  his,  and  that  of  churches  which 
owed  their  very  souls  to  him.  The  narrowing  in- 
fluence of  the  personal  element  even  in  Christian 
interest  and  sympathy,  is  echoed  in  the  sad  words, 
"all  seek  their  own  interests,  not  those  of  Christ 
Jesus  " ;  by  which  he  seems  to  refer  to  the  lack  in 
Rome  of  any  real  Christian  catholicity  of  feeling. 
So  that,  although  his  bold  witness  emboldened  many 
to  speak  out  the  word  of  God,  as  they  understood  it, 
more  freely  than  before  his  coming ;  yet  they  did  not 
show  personal  sympathy  for  him  or  his  work,  pre- 
ferring to  take  their  own  line  and  that  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance. Indeed  some  of  the  narrow  or  Judaizing 
type  were  even  stirred  to  preach  the  Messiah  the 
more  zealously  out  of  sheer  rivalry,  with  impure  mo- 
tives, thinking  to  make  the  prisoner's  constraint  the 
more  galling  to  him,  as  they  used  their  freedom  to 
propagate  what  he  could  but  regard  as  a  maimed 
Gospel.  Yet  his  magnanimity  enabled  him  to  rejoice 
that  even  so  Christ  was  thereby  reaching  men's  ears. 
While  many,  admiring  and  even  revering  him  as  a 
great  champion  of  the  Gospel  amid  heathenism,  were 
preaching  with  good-will  and  love  to  Paul,  though 
without  any  tokens  of  tender  affection  or  personal 
loyalty. 

It  is  clear  that  the  early  stage  of  praying  for  the 
door  to  open  to  his  ministry,  as  of  "an  ambassador  in 
a  chain,"  and  for  the  grace  of  outspokenness  (Col. 
iv.  3  f. ;  Eph.  vi.  20),  is  already  long  past.     It  is  now 


His   Optimism  for  the   Cause.  197 

his  to  cheer  the  Philippians  with  the  assurance  that 
his  hard  lot — the  long  delay  in  irksome  restraint — 
has  even  promoted  the  spread  of  the  Gospel.  For 
his  case  as  a  prisoner  has  brought  Christ  to  the 
notice  of  "  the  whole  Prcetorium"  or  supreme  Im- 
perial Court  of  Appeals,1  "  and  of  all  the  rest."  His 
case  was  in  fact  a  cause  ceTebre,  and  was  setting  men, 
especially  the  legal  profession,  asking  what  lay  be- 
hind it,  what  the  externa  super stitio  was  that  set 
Jews  by  the  ears,  and  who  this  "  Christ,"  on  whom 
all  turned,  might  be.  The  probabilities,  indeed,  of 
life  and  death  seemed  to  him  to  be  humanly  speak- 
ing about  equal.  It  looks  as  though  he  were  be- 
ginning to  realize  all  the  bearings  of  his  own  case  in 
the  eye  of  the  State  (cf.  ii.  17) ;  not  only,  that  is, 
as  a  matter  of  tolerating  a  branch  of  Judaism,  but  as 
an  affair  of  public  order — the  grave  charge  already 
raised  by  Tertullus  at  Caesarea  (Acts  xxiv.  5),  when 
he  taxed  Paul  with  being  "a  pestilent  fellow  and  a 
mover  of  seditions  among  all  the  Jews  throughout 
the  civilized  world."  Bat  as  yet  it  had  not  nar- 
rowed itself  down  to  this  dangerous  issue,  as  it  prob- 

1  Mommsen  has  shown  that  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Prse- 
torium  in  i.  13,  namely  the  whole  hotly  of  judges  associated 
with  the  Prefect  or  Prefects  of  the  Praetorian  Guard  (as  repre- 
senting the  Emperor  as  the  fountain  of  justice),  the  Cour  de 
Cassation  of  the  Empire.  "The  saints  of  Caesar's  household" 
(iv.  22)  represent  a  different  circle,  and  one  in  which,  as  "in  most 
intimate  relations  with  all  parts  of  the  Empire,"  Christianity 
probably  had  long  had  a  footing.  Kamsay  holds  Lightfoot  right 
in  thinking  that  the  slaves  of  Aristobulus  (son  of  Herod  the 
Great)  and  of  Narcissus  (Claudius'  favorite  freedman)  had  passed 
into  the  Imperial  household,  and  that  members  of  these  familise 
are  saluted  as  Christians  as  early  as  Romans  xvi.  10  f. 


198  The  Apostolic  Age. 


ably  did  in  the  sequel.  This  explains  the  more 
hopeful  tone  of  the  earliest  group  of  letters,  the 
more  dubious  tone  of  Philippians,  the  settled  fore- 
boding of  2  Timothy  as  a  whole. 

For  now  we  have  to  notice  that  the  tenor  of  2 
Timothy  is  quite  alien  to  that  even  of  Philippians. 
His  confinement  was  more  rigorous ;  he  was  "  far- 
ing ill,  up  to  the  point  of  bonds,  like  a  criminal " 
(ii.  9).  •  He  had  no  hope  of  acquittal :  he  recognized 
that  he  was  "  already  being  poured  forth  as  an  offer- 
ing, and  the  time  of  his  departure  was  come."  The 
gloom  and  hopelessness  of  the  situation  damped  and 
dismayed  all  his  friends :  at  his  first  hearing  "  all 
forsook  "  him :  yet  for  the  time  he  "  was  delivered 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  lion  "  (a  proverb  for  extreme 
peril).  In  every  respect  the  situation  thus  indicated 
is  the  opposite  of  the  circumstances  described  on  the 
first  trial.'  These  words  are  quoted,  as  giving  a 
due  sense  of  the  contrast  between  2  Timothy  and  all 
other  notices  of  Paul's  Roman  experiences,  a  contrast 
which  Ramsay  thinks  explicable  only  on  the  as- 
sumption of  two  trials  separated  by  a  period  of  liber- 
ation. The  inference,  implied  in  the  words  "  on  the 
first  trial,"  is  more  than  dubious.  But  the  fact  from 
which  it  starts,  the  absence  of  all  hope  of  final  re- 
lease, is  certain,  and  is  to  our  mind  inconsistent  with 
the  tenor  of  so  much  of  ch.  iv.  9  ff.  as  was  quoted 
some  pages  back  and  shown  to  be  intermediate 
between  Colossians  and  Philippians.  The  moral 
of  2  Timothy  up  to  iv.  8,  is  that  Timothy  should 
play  the  man  at  his  post,  all  the  more  that  Paul  him- 
self is  just  laying  down  his  weapons  (see  iv.  1-8  in 


PauVs  Last  Days.  199 

particular).  It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  hard 
on  this  should  come  the  words,  "  Do  thy  diligence 
to  come  to  me  speedily,  for  Demas  has  deserted  me," 
etc.,  (even  though  events  had  moved  rapidly  and 
needed  a  Postscript).  Paul  was  looking  for  his  de- 
parture any  day,  and  would  not  be  sending  afar  for 
the  comfort  of  congenial  ministry,  or  for  his  cloak 
and  books.  The  thought  finds  its  only  proper  sequel 
in  iv.  16-18,  "  In  my  first  defence  no  man  stood  by 
my  side  to  support  my  plea,  but  all  deserted  me."1 
Then  might  follow  19  (cf.  i.  16-18),  22  b;  and 
would  be  Paul's  last  extant  words. 

The  very  last  days  of  Paul's  life  are  lost  to  our 
view.  The  great  thing  is  to  know  the  spirit  in  which 
he  entered  "  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death." 
To  him  death  was  but  a  shadow.  He  was  departing 
"to  be  with  Christ,"  which  was  "  very  far  better  " 
as  concerned  himself.  And  now  he  was  satisfied 
that  even  the  work  of  God  was  no  longer  to  detain 
him-^the  Lord's  work  was  safe  in  His  strong  keep- 
ing. And  so  he  sings  his  swan-song  in  triumph : 
44  As  for  me,  I  am  already  being  poured  out  as  an  offer- 
ing, and  the  hour  of  my  departure  is  upon  me.  The 
good  fight  I  have  fought,  the  course  I  have  finished, 
the  faith  I  have  kept.     Henceforth  there  is  laid  up 

1  If,  as  is  likely,  the  ill-will  to  Paul  displayed  by  Alexander 
the  coppersmith  consisted  in  gainsaying  his  pleadings  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  riot  at  Ephesns  (cf.  Acts  xix.  33),  then  iv.  14,  15  go 
along  with  16-18.  And  in  this  case  the  desertion  by  "all  those 
in  Asia,"  such  as  Phygelus  and  Hermogenes  (men  of  official  po- 
sition?), refers  to  their  refusal  to  stir  a  finger  to  support  Paul's 
case  with  evidence  in  Rome:  to  whose  supineness  Onesiphorus 
supplies  a  shining  contrast,  by  identifying  himself  with  his  old 
master  in  his  hour  of  adversity. 


200  The  Apostolic  Age. 


for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord 
shall  give  me  in  that  day,  the  righteous  Judge;  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  also  to  all  that  have  loved  His 
appearing."  He  died,  as  a  Roman  citizen,  by  the 
sword,  gladdened,  we  may  believe,  in  his  last  hours 
by  the  sympathy  of  Timothy,  whom  affection  had 
drawn  unbidden  to  his  side. 

All  that  has  so  far  been  described  assumes  that 
Paul  was  never  released  from  his  Roman  confine- 
ment, save  by  the  executioner's  sword.  The  oppo- 
site is,  however,  the  common  belief  among  English- 
speaking  scholars.  Lightfoot  argues  l  for  a  release 
about  63,  a  renewed  activity  around  the  iEgean  and 
probably  also  in  Spain,  rearrest  about  67,  and  mar- 
tyrdom in  that  or  the  next  year.  But  in  spite  of  the 
extreme  elaborateness  of  the  itinerary  which  he  is 
forced  to  imagine,  his  scheme  fails  to  harmonize  all 
the  data,  notably  of  2  Timothy.  Indeed  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  any  theory  that  fails  to  recognize 
the  composite  origin  of  2  Tim.  iv.  9  ff.  can  even 
seem  to  do  so.  2     This  is  the  strong  point  about  so- 

1  Especially  in  two  of  his  old  Cambridge  Lectures,  published  in 
the  posthumous  volume  of  Biblical  Essays.  Ramsay  seems  to 
adopt  the  like  view,  but  does  not  attempt  to  work  out  the  details. 
Any  theory  that  puts  the  letters  as  late  as  65-68  has  (1)  to  encounter 
the  absence  of  all  sentiment  toward  the  government  such  as  the 
massacre  of  64  would  leave  behind  (1  Tim.  ii.  2  would  seem  a 
sorry  sarcasm  after  64),  as  well  as  of  any  echoes  of  the  stirring 
events  in  Palestine  from  66  onward  ;  and  (2)  to  justify  the  com- 
parative youthfulness  attributed  to  Timothy  in  the  second  letter 
(i.  2,  ii.  1,  22,  "  flee  the  passions  of  youth  "),  seeing  he  must  in  67 
have  been  with  Paul  some  eighteen  years  and  have  reached  the 
age  of  thirty-eight  or  forty  at  least. 

2  How  utterly  improbable,  for  instance,  that  Demas  would  have 
sought  Paul  out  on  a  second  imprisonment  and  then  deserted. 


Theory  of  a  Second  Imprisonment.  201 

called  "  Partition  Theories,"  which  however  begin  to 
be  arbitrary  and  mutually  discordant  as  soon  as  they 
venture  much  further  (see  Literary  Appendix).  As 
regards  the  supposed  release  itself,  Lightfoot  is 
confronted  by  the  presumption  against  a  release 
created  by  Paul's  words  to  the  Ephesian  elders  at 
Miletus  (Acts  xx.  25)  :  "  And  now,  lo,  I  know  that 
ye  all,  among  whom  I  went  about  preaching  the 
Kingdom,  shall  see  my  face  no  more."  He  replies 
that  this  personal  presentiment  cannot  be  pressed, 
the  more  so  that  it  is  balanced  by  presentiments  of 
an  opposite  kind,  like  the  passage  in  Phil.  ii.  24,  i. 
25 ;  Philem.  22.  But  he  fails  to  observe  the  force 
of  the  fact  that  the  author  of  Acts,  writing  as  an 
historian  after  Paul's  death,  thinks  it  worth  while 
to  record  these  words,  and  even  gives  them  emphasis 
by  referring  to  them  in  his  own  person  at  the  end  of 
the  speech  (xx.  38).  So  economical  a  writer  would 
not  have  troubled  to  record  an  unfulfilled  presenti- 
ment, with  no  hint  that  it  was  so  unfulfilled.1  There- 
fore this  passage  tells  strongly  against  Lightfoot's 
view,  and  can  only  be  overcome  by  counter  evidence 
of  a  very  cogent  nature.  This  he  and  others  think 
they  find  in  a  positive  statement  in  1  Clement  (A.  D. 
96),  just  a  generation  after  the  supposed  release, 
to  the  effect  that  Paul  after  reaching  the  bound  of 
the  West  (to  xipim  r-^?  Sudsoj?)  and  bearing  witness 
before  the  rulers,  so  departed  from  this  world  (v.  7). 
But  though  the   phrase  "  the  bound  of  the  West," 

1  The  same  idea,  that  God  was  preparing  the  apostle  for  some- 
thing in  itself  tragic,  but  through  Paul's  attitude  to  it  glorious, 
runs  through  the  whole  sequel  in  Acts. 


202  The  Apostolic  Age. 

taken  by  itself,  would  certainly  suggest  some  point 
further  west  than  Rome  (e.  g.,  Spain),  yet  the  con- 
text, which  refers  to  Paul's  preaching  in  both  East 
and  "West,  may  well  modify  its  sense  and  make  it 
mean  "  his  limit  in  the  West."  1  Nor  can  one  sepa- 
rate the  participles  "  having  come  to  the  western 
bound  and  witnessed  before  the  rulers  " — while  all 
allow  that  the  latter  refers  to  Rome.  For  another 
reason  Clement  cannot  mean  that  Paul  survived  the 
date  64:  since  he  adds  that  to  Peter  and  Paul  was 
gathered  ((juveOpoiaOrj)  the  multitude  of  Neronian 
martyrs  of  64  (vi.  1).  And  so  Clement  goes  over 
bodily  to  the  other  side.  Later  Patristic  evidence 
seems  for  the  most  part  mere  inference  from  Rom. 
xv.  28;  while  the  apocryphal  Acts  of  Paul  and 
Peter  assume  Paul's  martyrdom  on  his  first  trial. 

1  Cf.  the  statement  found  in  one  MS.  at  the  end  of  St.  Mark, 
that  "Jesus  sent  forth  from  East  even  to  West  the  sacred  and  in- 
corruptible Gospel,"  by  means  of  the  Apostles. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

LATER   PALESTINIAN  DAYS. 

(a)     General  State  of  Palestine. 

A.  D.  44-66. 

BOUT  the  middle  of  the  century  things 
began  to  go  from  bad  to  worse  with  the 
Jews  in  Palestine.  Already  under  Calig- 
ula and  Claudius  there  had  been  much 
to  resent.  But  with  the  troubles  which 
led  to  the  deposition  of  the  procurator  Cumanus  in 
52  A.  D.,  and  the  elevation  of  his  late  junior  col- 
league Felix,  began  a  progressive  exasperation  on 
both  sides  which  explains  even  the  desperate  and 
fanatical  character  of  the  war  of  defiance  ending  in 
the  supreme  tragedy  of  70  A.  D.  It  was  not  only 
that  the  successive  procurators,  Felix  (52-58), 
Festus  (58-61),  Albinus  (62-65),  Florus  (65-66), 
were  in  various  ways  almost  as  unfit  for  their  deli- 
cate position  as  men  could  be.  There  were  also 
deeper  causes,  inherent  in  the  temper  and  social  con- 
dition of  the  Jews  themselves  at  this  epoch,  which 
made  some  sort  of  national  outburst  well-nigh  in- 
evitable. 

Besides  the  incompatibility  of  temper  and  of  tradi- 
tions as  between  the  ruling  and  the  subject  race, 
there   was,  first  of  all,  a  clash  of  essential  ideals  in- 

203 


204  The  Apostolic  Age. 

volved  in  the  coexistence  side  by  side  of  the  Roman 
State  and  the  Jewish  Church.  The  spirit  of  each 
was  embodied  in  its  Law;  the  one  cosmopolitan, 
utilitarian,  equally  tolerant  of  all  religious  beliefs  as 
such;  the  other  intensely  exclusive,  claiming  to 
speak  with  the  categorical  imperative  of  the  Divine 
behest,  and  so  brooking  no  rival  within  its  own  bor- 
ders. But  to  the  Jewish  mind  the  Thorah's  borders 
were  in  fact  coextensive  with  the  whole  of  life, 
national  and  personal.  It  could  have  no  real  being 
save  as  a  polity,  an  organization  of  society  through 
and  through.  Like  Islam,  Judaism  coul^d  acquiesce 
in  no  dualism  between  civil  and  religious  society. 
All  must  rest  immediately  on  one  single  basis,  and 
that  the  revealed  divine  will.  As  long  as  this  was 
not  so,  the  thoroughgoing  Jew  felt  that  he  had  an- 
other master  beside  Jehovah.  This  might  be  toler- 
ated indeed  in  the  face  of  overwhelming  force,  but 
only  in  the  hope  of  the  day  when  the  yoke  of  the 
uncircumcised  Gentile  should  be  forever  dashed 
from  his  neck  and  Jehovah  become  Israel's  King 
once  more. 

Such  a  people  could  never,  while  they  held  fast 
their  convictions,  be  other  than  in  a  latent  state  of 
protest  looking  toward  revolt.  Yet  the  cause  of  na- 
tional emancipation  was  very  differently  regarded  by 
different  types  of  Jews.  And  in  fact  the  divergence 
of  ideals  was  singularly  well-marked  among  them  at 
the  period  in  question.  The  Sadducees  and  Hero- 
dians  had  in  various  fashions  practically  ceased  to 
be  Jews  in  heart ;  for  they  had  made  terms  with  the 
inevitable  in  their  own  behalf.    They  had  even  ceased 


The  Sadduce.es  and  Herodians  un-Jeivish.     205 

to  wish  things  altered,  lest  they  should  no  longer 
find  themselves  in  the  places  of  pride  and  influence. 
To  occupy  these  in  a  free  Israel  was  doubtless  pref- 
erable. But  a  theocracy,  with  themselves  in  ob- 
scurity, would  be  no  Kingdom  of  heaven  to  them. 
And  so  they  feared  all  change,  and  especially  that 
form  which  might  spring  from  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
masses.  At  the  other  extreme  were  the  "quiet  in 
the  land,"  to  whom  the  Kingdom  meant  something 
altogether  divine  and  heavenly,  not  of  the  world 
in  which  those  others  had  their  being.  To  this  gen- 
eral class  of,"  the  meek  "  belonged  not  only  the  other- 
worldly Essenes,  who  had  given  up  all  hope  of  a  na- 
tional salvation,  or  Kingdom  of  holiness,  but  also  the 
Christians,  into  whose  ranks  had  passed  the  flower 
of  the  humbly  pious,  like  John's  parents  and  Joseph 
and  Mary.  These  while  doing  their  duty  in  the  lot 
in  which  Jehovah  had  placed  them,  had  been  "  wait- 
ing for  Israel's  consolation"  from  on  high.  As  such 
godly  folks  mused  on  the  promises  of  this  consolation, 
whether  in  Prophets  or  in  that  Apocalyptic  litera- 
ture which  served  as  their  commentary  and  supple- 
ment— and  the  influence  of  which  we  are  just  learn- 
ing to  realize — they  felt  that  the  Divine  Kingdom 
was  to  come  by  the  kindred  method  of  divine  inter- 
position, and  not  by  that  brute  force  which  it  was 
part  of  its  glory  to  replace  by  humaner  ways.  Hence 
while  the  non-Essenic  branch  of  them  felt  their  hearts 
beat  high  with  national  aspirations,  yet  they  held 
aloof  from  all  movements  that  relied  on  "  the  arm  of 
flesh  "  rather  than  the  Providence  of  God. 

Intermediate  between  these  two  types  were  the 


206  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

common  middle-class  Pharisees,  a  large  proportion  of 
such  Jews  as  took  their  religion  seriously.  They 
had  grave  religious  defects,  even  when  we  consider 
the  rank  and  file  rather  than  the  extremer  types 
which  meet  us  for  the  most  part  in  the  Gospels. 
But  the  more  thoughtful  of  them  felt  that  it  was  no 
part  even  of  zealous  piety  to  risk  all  where  the  pros- 
pect of  success  was,  to  human  calculation,  at  a  min- 
imum. And  so  their  leaders  concurred  generally 
with  the  actual  policy  of  their  more  worldly  rivals, 
the  Sadducean  hierarchy;  at  any  rate  as  to  the  folly 
of  immediate  revolt  from  Rome,  and  as^to  the  dan- 
ger of  being  dragged  at  the  tail  of  any  popular  up- 
rising led  by  ignorant  visionaries,  such  as  the  bulk 
of  those  who  presented  themselves  as  national  deliv- 
erers notoriously  were.  Yet,  seeing  that  this  party 
was  not  on  principle  opposed  to  the  use  of  force, 
any  more  than  their  spiritual  ancestors  who  formed 
the  backbone  of  the  Maccabean  rising  more  than  two 
centuries  before,  there  was  always  a  chance  of  its 
more  fiery  section  espousing  the  claims  and  pros- 
pects of  a  given  leader  or  would-be  Messiah,  and  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  hour  flocking  to  his  side.  Fi- 
nally there  were  the  unsettled  classes  in  Palestine, 
those  on  whom  the  generally  evil  state  of  things,  the 
fruit  of  oppression  and  extortion  both  by  native  and 
alien,  pressed  heaviest. 

Religion  was  not  as  a  rule  tried  very  strictly  by 
moral  tests.  So  that  among  the  party  known  as  the 
44  Zealots,"  from  their  passionate  hatred  of  the  rule 
of  the  foreigner,  were  found  men  of  all  kinds  and  of 
all  motives,  ranging  from  the  pure  religious  fanatic 


Ring leaders  of  Zealotry.  207 

to  the  mere  bankrupt  of  fortune,  whose  instinct  was 
all  for  change  at  any  price.  The  peasantry  leaned 
largely  to  Zealotry,  and  on  several  occasions  shed 
their  blood  with  perfect  abandon  in  the  semi-religious 
national  cause.  But  the  longer  the  restless  and  dis- 
organized state  of  Palestinian  society  lasted,  the 
lower  became  the  average  level  of  Zealotry.  And 
soon  after  gaining  a  footing  in  Jerusalem  itself,  in  the 
early  years  of  the  infamous  Felix  (52-58),  its  ring- 
leaders became  known  as  the  Assassins  (Sicarii),  a 
secret  society  of  the  stiletto^  for  the  promotion  of  the 
revolt  from  Rome  and  the  removal  of  all  who  stood 
in  the  way  of  that  goal.  Henceforth  morbid  excita- 
tion of  mind  was  more  and  more  concentrated  in  the 
capital,  the  city  of  stirring  memories  and  unbounded 
hopes.  The  party  of  order,  varied  as  were  their  mo- 
tives and  worth,  became  less  and  less  able  to  hold 
the  war  party  in  check,  as  scandal  to  Jewish  feeling 
followed  scandal,  and  as  sign  seemed  to  follow  sign — 
all  making  for  a  crisis.  Typical  of  the  times  was 
the  Egyptian  impostor  referred  to  in  Acts  xxi.  38, 
who  first  attracted  to  himself  in  the  desert  of  Judaea 
some  thousands  of  Sicarii  and  others,  and  then,  hav- 
ing persuaded  them  of  his  prophetic  vocation,  led 
them  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  claiming  that  they 
would  see  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  fall  flat  before  him. 
Reports  of  portents  assailed  the  highly-wrought  mind 
on  every  side  ;  and  everything  was  seen  by  the  pop- 
ular imagination  through  the  haze  of  apocalyptic 
forecasts  and  omens.  All  this  had,  as  soil  in  which 
to  germinate,  the  undying  sense  of  a  divine  election 
of  the  nation,  now  intensified  for  most  minds  into  a 


208  The  Apostolic  Age. 

definite  Messianic  programme.  For  was  there  not 
"  to  go  forth  at  this  time,  from  their  midst,  one  who 
should  be  master  of  the  world"? 

Accordingly,  when  Festus,  Felix's  successor  in  an 
evil  tradition,  died  in  office  about  the  end  of  61  or 
the  beginning  of  62,  the  Jewish  authorities  must 
have  felt  the  situation  very  critical  and  themselves 
called  upon  to  take  every  precaution  against  the 
Messianic  hope  leading  to  a  violent  outburst.  This 
was  probably  the  meaning  of  their  attitude  towards 
the  leaders  of  the  Christian  community  in  Jerusa- 
lem early  in  the  three  months'  rule  of  Ananus  the 
Younger,  high-priest  during  the  procuratorial  inter- 
regnum. According  to  our  text  of  Josephus,  he 
brought  James  the  Lord's  brother  before  the  Sanhe- 
drin,  along  with  certain  others  ;  and  got  them  all 
condemned  to  death  by  stoning,  as  having  violated 
the  Jewish  law  in  jsome  way.1  This  sentence,  the 
execution  of  which  shocked  the  more  reasonable  cit- 
izens— "  men,  too,  well  versed  in  the  Law  " — was 
probably  due  to  official  fear  of  popular  leaders 
vaguely  suspected  of  fostering  Messianic  agitation, 
as  the  brother  of  "Jesus  the  so-called  Christ"  might 
plausibly  be  accused  of  doing.  The  later  account 
given  by  Hegesippus  of  the  martyrdom  of  James, 
when  stripped  of  certain  transparent  Jewish-Chris- 
tian embellishments,  points  the  same  way.  He  is 
there  represented  as  having  enjoyed  the  utmost  ven- 

1  Probably  in  much  the  same  sense  as  Jesus  himself  was  con- 
demned for  breaking  the  Law.  So  Hegesippus  (Euseb.  iv.  22) 
writes,  "after  James  the  Just  had  been  martyred  in  like  manner 
as  the  Lord,  on  the  same  count,"  i.  e.,  for  Messianic  reasons. 


The  Martyrdom  of  James.  209 

eration  of  the  Jewish  populace,  by  reason  of  his 
strict  and  devoted  piety  after  the  manner  of  a  Naz- 
irite,  a  traditional  type  of  saintliness,  and  in  particu- 
lar through  his  habit  of  constant  prayer,  which  won 
him  the  title  of  the  Just  and  of  Obliam,  or  "  Rampart 
of  the  People."  In  consequence  of  this  he  came  to  be 
consulted  by  certain  members  of  the  Jewish  sects  or 
parties  already  described  in  general  terms,  as  to 
"  the  Way  (lit.  Door)  of  Jesus." 1  His  reply  was 
that  He  was  the  Saviour,  i.  e.,  the  true  Deliverer  of 
Israel,  the  Messiah.  Then  the  Sadducaic  rulers,  ob- 
serving the  strong  drift  there  was  (at  a  time  so  crit- 
ical as  the  morrow  of  the  death  of  the  procurator 
Festus)  towards  faith  in  Jesus  as  Messiah,  tried  to 
get  the  popular  saint  to  throw  his  weight  into  the 
opposite  scale  to  what  they  styled  Messianic  "  delu- 
sion." But  his  reply  to  the  test  question,  as  to  "the 
Way  of  Jesus,"  was  just  the  one  to  arouse  their  bit- 
terest resentment.  "  Why  ask  ye  me,"  said  he, 
"touching  Jesus  the  Son  of  Man?  He,  and  none 
other,  is  seated  in  heaven  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Great  Power,  and  is  about  to  come  upon  the  clouds 
of  heaven."  So  inflammatory  an  utterance,  espe- 
cially if,  as  the  account  implies,  it  was  spoken  when 
Jerusalem  was  filling  for  the  Passover,  could  meet 
with  but  one  answer  from  such  a  tribunal :  he  was 

1  It  is  tempting  to  suppose  that  before  the  story  reached  Hege- 
sippus  the  impersonal  sense  of  the  Semitic  word  for  "Salvation," 
which  as  a  personal  name  is  rendered  by  "Jesus"  (Matt.  i.  21 ; 
Heb.  iv.  8),  had  been  forgotten.  If  so,  the  question  originally 
ran,  "What  is  the  door  of  Salvation,"  or  national  deliverance 
(cf.  Luke  i.  69,  71 ;  Acts  iv.  12,  v.  31.)?  This  at  any  rate  was  the 
question  of  the  hour. 
N 


210  .  The  Apostolic  Age. 

stoned  to  death.  It  is  not  certain  whether  the  others 
who  suffered  at  the  same  time  (as  Josephus  states) 
were  also  Christians.  Possibly  they  were  exponents 
of  other  forms  of  the  Messianic  ideal. 

James'  successor  in  the  headship  of  the  Jerusalem 
Christians  was  Symeon,  "  whom  all  put  forward  as 
being  a  blood  relation  of  the  Lord,"  in  fact  a  cousin 
on  Joseph's  side.  This  statement  is  suggestive  of 
the  rather  carnal  way  in  which  this  highly  Jewish 
community  viewed  the  Messianic  Kingdom  :  and  this 
impression  is  deepened  when  we  learn  that  a  similar 
feeling  for  the  family  prerogative  still  existed  a  gen- 
eration later.  For  the  leadership  among  the  Pales- 
tinian churches  enjoyed  by  the  grandsons  of  Jude, 
the  Lord's  brother,  was  traceable  not  only  to  their 
faithful  witness  before  Domitian  but  also  to  the  ac- 
cident of  their  birth.  In  fact  a  special  title  of  re- 
spect, Desposyni  or  "  the  Lord's  folk,"  was  reserved 
for  the  family  as  a  whole. 

No  general  persecution  followed  the  martyr- 
dom of  James.  But  his  death  may  well  have  been 
the  signal  for  increased  pressure  being  brought  to 
bear  on  the  Judeeo-Christians  throughout  Palestine, 
to  induce  them  to  give  up  hoping  for  salvation 
through  the  return  of  Jesus  Messiah,  and  to  rely 
simply  on  the  common  means  of  acceptance  with 
God  and  national  deliverance.  So  would  cease  the 
friction  between  themselves  and  their  compatriots, 
now  so  galling  by  reason  of  its  continuance  for  a 
length  of  time  undreamed  of  when  first  they  trusted 
in  Jesus.  So  also  would  they  no  more  hear  the  re- 
proach, to  which  they  were  increasingly  exposed,  of 


The  Epistle  to  Hebrews.  211 

aloofness  from  the  main  body  of  national  sentiment 
at  a  time  of  such  crisis.  If  this  was  the  situation 
about  the  time  of  James'  death  (Passover  (?)  62), 
none  seems  more  likely  to  have  evoked  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews.  In  this  light  the  epistle,  so  obscure 
in  its  origin  and  relations,  at  once  becomes  alive 
with  meaning.  It  is  an  appeal  called  forth  in  hot 
haste  from  the  burning  sympathy  of  one  well-known 
to  certain  Jewish-Christians,  and  to  whom  at  a  dis- 
tance had  come  the  startling  news  of  their  imminent 
apostasy.  That  the  crisis  was  a  sudden  one  is  im- 
plied by  the  fact  that  he  writes  at  all,  instead  of 
waiting  to  be  joined  by  Timothy  whose  early  arrival 
he  expects,  and  then  visiting  them  in  person. 

If  it  be  thought  that  the  Epistle  in  some  respects 
particularizes  the  circumstances  of  its  readers  more 
than  suits  a  sort  of  circular  letter  to  the  Palestinian 
churches  (perhaps  exclusive  of  Jerusalem,  where  the 
church's  conditions  were  largely  special  to  itself), 
then  a  primary  destination  suggests  itself  easily  in 
connection  with  the  reference  to  "our  brother 
Timothy."  For  it  is  almost  certain  that  Timothy 
was  with  Paul  during  some  part  at  least  of  his  im- 
prisonment in  Caesarea,  and  would  be  personally 
known  to  the  brethren  there.  On  the  same  assump- 
tion, namely  that  the  writer  of  Hebrews  had  Caesarea 
very  specially  in  his  mind's  eye,  we  can  explain  an- 
other personal  reference  which  at  first  sight  seems 
foreign  to  a  Palestinian  circle  of  readers :  and  that 
is  the  greeting  from  "  them  of  Italy."  Whether  the 
author  be  writing  from  Italy  or  not,  we  are  forced  to 
ask,  Where  in  Palestine  would  the  bulk  of  a  com- 


212  The  Apostolic  Age. 

raunity  be  sufficiently  in  touch  with  Italy  to  account 
for  greetings  from  a  body  of  Italian  brethren  ?  And 
the  most  satisfactory  answer  is  Csesarea,  the  chief 
point  of  contact  with  Italy.  It  was  the  official 
seat  of  Roman  government  in  Palestine,  where  re- 
sided the  procurator  and  his  suite,  and  where  was 
stationed  a  considerable  body  of  Roman  troops, 
including  "the  Italian  cohort"  of  which  the  first 
full  Gentile  convert  had  been  a  centurion. 

Shortly  after  Ananus  had  taken  the  law  into  his 
own  hands  during  his  high  priesthood,  which  ended 
with  the  arrival  of  Albums  the  new  procurator 
(spring  (?)  62),  Jerusalem  was  startled  by  a  striking 
apparition,  reminding  men  of  one  of  the  ancient 
prophets.  It  was  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  and  a 
season  of  unwonted  peace  reigned  in  Jerusalem. 
Yet  suddenly  a  wailing  voice  rang  through  the  city, 
iterating  day  and  night  the  same  ill-omened  dirge : 
"  A  voice  from  the  East,  a  voice  from  the  West,  a 
voice  from  the  four  winds,  a  voice  against  Jerusalem 
and  the  sanctuary,  a  voice  against  bridegroom  and 
bride,  a  voice  against  all  the  People."  Men  took  it 
the  more  to  heart  that*  the  prophet,  a  certain  Jesus 
Bar  Ananias,  was  but  an  unlettered  rustic.  At  last, 
in  vexation,  certain  of  the  leading  citizens  had  him 
seized  and  scourged.  But  no  syllable  fell  from  him 
save  his  wonted  cry.  Feeling  as  if  there  was  some- 
thing superhuman  about  the  thing,  the  rulers  handed 
him  over  to  the  Roman  authorities,  whose  pitiless 
scourges  however  could  draw  from  him  naught  but 
44  Ah,  Ah,  for  Jerusalem."  Josephus  relates  all  this 
with  bated  breath:  and  indeed  it  strikingly  illus- 


Inconsecutiveness  of  Acts.  213 

trates  the  widespread  presentiment  that  critical  times 
were  at  hand  for  the  Land  of  Promise. 

Touching  the  four  years  yet  to  elapse  before  the 
storm  burst  little  need  be  said.  The  ferment  con- 
tinued to  intensify  under  Albums,  who  "left  no 
form  of  rascality  untried,"  and  his  successor  Gessius 
Florus,  who  "  seemed  sent  to  give  the  executioner's 
stroke  to  men  already  condemned."  The  latter  had 
been  in  office  little  more  than  a  year  when  a  stray 
spark,  as  it  were,  kindled  the  inflammable  material, 
first  locally,  and  then  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Palestine,  involving  for  a  time  even  the 
whole  of  Eastern  Judaism. 

(6)     Palestinian  Christianity  up  to  62  A.  D. 

The  doings  of  the  Jewish  Christians  after  their 
scattering  from  Jerusalem  before  the  vigorous  perse- 
cution occasioned  by  Stephen's  preaching,  are  in- 
volved in  much  obscurity.  The  thread  of  strictly 
consecutive  narrative  in  Acts  really  breaks  off  at 
this  point.  What  we  get  hereafter,  until  the  arch- 
inquisitor  Saul  finally  emerges  as  an  enlarger  of  the 
Church's  message  and  the  figure  around  whom  the 
rest  of  the  story  centres,  is  a  series  of  typical  epi- 
sodes put  together  with  less  regard  to  historical  than 
to  logical  sequence.  We  have  already  made  some 
use  of  them ;  and  the  glimpses  which  they  afford  of 
the  earliest  days  of  the  Palestinian  Christians  are 
indeed  priceless.  Now,  however,  our  object  is  to 
see  as  far  as  we  can  into  their  real  sequence,  prelim- 
inary to  the  attempt  to  construct  from  our  scattered 


214  The  Apostolic  Age. 


materials  some  image  of  later  Judseo-Christianity*, 
prior  to  the  war  in  66,  A.  D. 

How  long  the  persecution  led  by  Saul  may  have 
lasted  we  have  no  certain  means  of  judging.  Of  its 
severity  we  have  ample  evidence,  both  in  the 
thoroughness  of  the  scattering  to  which  it  led,  and 
in  the  echoes  some  thirty  years  after  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews.  There  we  read  of  "  the  former 
days,"  in  which  certain  Palestinian  Christians,  after 
being  "  enlightened,"  "  endured  a  great  conflict  of 
sufferings ;  partly,  being  made  a  gazing  stock  both 
by  abuse  and  afflictions ;  and  partly,  becoming  par- 
takers with  them  that  were  so  used."  For  they 
"had  compassion  on  them  that  were  in  bonds,  and 
took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  possessions,"  in 
the  sure  hope  of  "  a  better  possession  and  an  endur- 
ing." To  which  one  may  add  Paul's  confession  that 
he  had  in  Jerusalem  "  shut  up  many  of  the  saints  in 
prisons  "  and  "  voted  against  them  when  they  were 
put  to  death  " ;  also  that  "  in  all  the  synagogues  be 
had  by  penalties  tried  to  force  them  to  blaspheme  " 
the  name  of  Jesus  (Acts  xxvi.  10  f.).  Among  the 
very  earliest  results  of  the  wider  mission  occasioned 
by  this  stirring  of  the  Christian  nest,  was  Philip's 
work  among  the  Samaritans.  Indeed  this  seems  to 
have  begun  while  Saul  was  yet  engaged  in  pressing 
his  campaign  as  far  as  the  foreign  city  of  Damascus. 
Then  came  his  conversion,  his  withdrawal  into 
Arabia,  his  mission-work  in  the  synagogues  of  Da- 
mascus, his  hair-breadth  escape,  and  his  brief  visit 
to  Peter  in  Jerusalem. 

One  thing  of  interest  we  may  safely  infer  from  his 


Itineraries  of  the  A})Ostles.  215 


own  account  of  that  visit,  namely   that  James,  the 
Lord's  brother,  was  already  a  leading  personage  in 
the  Church,  if  not  its  chief  ordinary  leader,  as  con- 
trasted with  apostles  like  Peter  and  James  the  son 
of  Zebedee.     The  Palestinian  Church  had  now  en- 
tered on  a  period  of  quiet  and  steady  progress.     It 
seems  to  have  been  the  habit  of   the  apostles    to 
make  regular  mission  journeys  throughout  Palestine, 
probably  dividing  the  field  more  or  less  methodically 
between  them  and  their  fellow-evangelists,  both  for 
purposes  of  first  evangelization  and  of  subsequent 
inspection  and  consolidation  (cf.  Acts  ix.  32).    Quite 
a  number  of  those  associated  with  the  Twelve  in 
such  work    shared    also    in    the    honored   title  of 
"  Apostle,"  probably  as  having  been  among  the  more 
special  personal  disciples  of  the  Master,  seeing  that 
an  appearance  to  "  the  apostles  as  a  body  "—in  dis- 
tinction from  the   Twelve  and  the   Five  Hundred 
brethren— is  recorded  by  St.  Paul.     To  this  body 
belonged  not  only  Andronicus  and  Junias  (Rom. 
xvi.  7),  but  also  apparently  certain  men  who  later 
claimed  to  supersede  Paul  at  Corinth  in  virtue  of  a 
personal  and  bodily  intimacy  with  Jesus  which  he 
could   not   boast,  styling   themselves   preeminently 
"apostles"  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  xii.  11,  cf.  xi.  13,  18), 
"  False  apostles  "  is  what  Paul  styles  them,  in  allu- 
sion   to   their   having    or    claiming    certain   formal 
marks  of  "  apostolate  "  without  its  essential  spirit  of 
self-effacing    devotion.      Among    the    prerogatives 
recognized  by  Paul  as  belonging  to  this  order,  was  a 
claim  upon  their  converts  for  support,  including,  if 
needs  be,  that  of  wives  accompanying  them  on  their 


216  The  Apostolic  Age. 

itinerant  labors  (1  Cor.  ix.  4,  5).  Moreover  we 
gather  from  the  same  passage  that  Paul  reckoned 
Barnabas,  equally  with  himself,  an  "  apostle  "  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  term  (cf.  Acts  xiv.  4,  14). 
Whence  we  may  infer  that  Barnabas  had  been  a 
personal  disciple  of  Christ,  like  Joseph  Barsabbas 
and  Matthias. 

Though  certain  "  apostles  "  in  the  larger  sense  no 
doubt  passed  beyond  the  borders  of  Palestine  at 
quite  an  early  date,  it  is  probable  that  the  Twelve 
for  long  confined  themselves  to  the  Holy  Land, 
where  the  Messianic  Kingdom  was  expected  to  be 
manifested  in  glory.  Peter's  visit  to  Antioch,  which 
cannot  be  earlier  than  46  A.  D.,  is  the  first  known 
instance  to  the  contrary :  and  it,  while  hardly  an  ex- 
ception, may  have  remained  for  some  time  longer  an 
isolated  case.  It  was  the  Apostolic  labors  of  Paul 
and  Barnabas  which  created  a  new  and  larger  ideal 
of  the  possibilities  that  lay  in  the  Diaspora  among 
the  Gentiles.  And  into  this  field  we  may  imagine 
Peter,  as  usual,  foremost  in  leading  the  way. 

But  long  ere  this  came  to  pass,  possibly  before 
Peter's  apostolic  visitation  had  brought  him,  through 
Lydda  and  Joppa,  to  Cornelius  and  his  fellow  half- 
proselytes  at  Csesarea — with  all  the  momentous  issues 
of  that  visit — before  all  this,  certain  humbler  preach- 
ers, from  among  those  scattered  by  Saul's  onslaught, 
had  reached  Phoenicia  and  Cyprus  and  Antioch. 
Only  gradually  perhaps  did  the  Word,  in  the  last  of 
these  localities,  reach  even  pure  Greeks  through  the 
agency  of  Hellenists  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene.  Yet 
in    Antioch    such    converts    became   proselytes   of 


The  Gospel  beyond  Israel.  217 

the  New  Israel  without  even  having  been  prose- 
lytes of  the  Old.  As  soon  then  as  this  phenomenon 
attained  considerable  dimensions,  some  three  or  four 
years  from  Saul's  conversion,  say,  about  36-37  A.  D., 
Barnabas  was  despatched  from  Jerusalem  to  observe 
and  supervise.  He  was  satisfied,  settled  down,  and 
worked;  a  still  larger  ingathering  followed  indue 
course,  and  the  work  threatened  to  overtax  the 
strength  of  the  local  leaders.  Then  it  was  that, 
after  doing  mission  work  of  his  own  in  the  region 
of  his  native  Tarsus,  during  which  he  worked  in  the 
main  among  Jews  and  probably  suffered  the  thirty- 
nine  stripes  of  the  Synagogal  jurisdiction  more  than 
once,  as  well  as  many  other  dangers  and  hardships 
(2  Cor.  xi.  24  ff.),  the  ex-Pharisee  Saul  entered  upon 
the  work  in  Antioch  and  its  vicinity.  The  time 
which  elapsed  before  the  arrival  of  "  prophets  from 
Jerusalem,"  and  again  until  the  season  came  to  carry 
out  the  scheme  of  relief  planned  to  meet  the  famine 
foretold  by  Agabus,  all  this  is  uncertain.  But  some 
two  or  three  years  prior  to  the  latter  event  (46-47, 
A.  D.),  the  peace  of  the  Saints  at  Jerusalem  was 
rudely  broken  by  the  action  of  Herod  Agrippa  I. ; 
who,  jealous  of  the  growing  influence  of  the  Naza- 
renes  and  perhaps  egged  on  by  some  of  the  high- 
priestly  aristocracy,  suddenly  struck  down  James 
the  son  of  Zebedee,  then  a  prominent  leader.  Next, 
finding  the  act  meet  with  a  good  deal  of  approval, 
on  the  eve  of  the  Passover  he  got  Peter  within  his 
grasp. 

Whatever  may  hitherto  have  been  the  status  of 


218  The  Apostolic  Age. 


James,  the  eldest  of  the  four  "brethren  of  the 
Lord  "  who  stood  in  a  class  by  themselves  on  the 
same  level  of  honor  as  "  apostles  "  (1  Cor.  ix.  5),  there 
is  no  doubt  that  after  the  death  of  the  other  James 
he  was  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  Jerusalem  com- 
munity. In  fact  he  ranked  alongside  the  chief 
apostles,  Peter  and  John  ;  and  in  the  eyes  of  the 
stricter  sort  of  Jewish  believer  perhaps  he  seemed 
chiefest  of  them  all. '  It  is  therefore  of  great  conse- 
quence for  our  estimate  of  Judseo-Christianity  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  his  lifetime,  namely  till  62  A.  D.,  to 
gain  some  clear  and  correct  notion  of  this  re- 
markable man.  He  was  perhaps  the  most  represent- 
ative Jewish  Christian  during  some  eighteen  years, 
the  one  whom  the  stricter  sort  loved  to  represent  as 
sharing  their  own  views.  How  far  were  they  justi- 
fied in  such  a  claim  ? 

Our  surest  starting  point  is  the  testimony  of  Paul, 
who,  if  any  one,  was  likely  to  have  a  discriminating 
judgment  in  the  matter.  And  the  remarkable  thing 
is  that  he  always  names  him  with  marked  respect 
and  never  attributes  to  him  the  views  of  the  ex- 
tremists, even  when  they  claimed  to  speak  as  in  his 
name.  "Not  explicitly,"  it  may  be  replied,  "but 
surely  by  implication."  The  point  demands  careful 
examination,  and  will  repay  trouble  by  yielding 
some  distinctions  often  ignored  but  of  primary  im- 
port for  the  understanding  of  Judseo- Christianity 
prior  to  70,  A.  D. 

Judaism  was,  as  we  saw,  a  religious  unity  com- 
prising a  great  variety  of   schools  of  thought.     It 

1  Note  the  order  in  Gal.  ii.  9,  "  James  and  Cephas  and  John." 


Contrasting  Views  of  the  Thorah.  219 

embraced  not  only  Pharisaic  Legalists,  on  the  one 
hand,  but  also  the  adherents  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
on  the  other.  In  between,  there  were  many  grada- 
tions, determined  mainly  by  the  light  in  which  the 
Thorah,  the  revealed  Way  of  God,  was  regarded. 
Those  who  have  most  impressed  the  Christian  im- 
agination hitherto,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  they 
stand  out  in  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament  in  the 
fierce  light  of  controversy,  were  really  a  minority 
even  of  Palestinian  Jews.  This  class  of  Jew  re- 
garded the  Thorah  in  the  way  natural  to  professional 
lawyers,  the  more  scrupulous  that  the  code  com- 
mitted to  their  jealous  care  was  the  code  of  heaven, 
not  of  earth.  They  were  the  men  whose  attitude  to 
the  Law  is  aptly  expressed  in  the  words  of  their 
spiritual  successors,  the  Rabbis  of  the  Schools  of 
two  centuries  later,  as  a  "  fencing  of  the  Thorah." 
The  great  thing  was  to  keep  men  at  a  safe  distance 
from  forbidden  ground,  and  this  by  the  imposition 
of  additional  restrictions,  "  the  tradition  of  the 
elders."  The  Law  was  not  for  man,  but  man  for  the 
Law.  Thorah  was  not  so  much  a  Way  of  Life  for 
walking  in,  as  a  network  of  forbidden  paths,  each 
guarded  from  the  profane  foot  by  a  menacing 
placard  inscribed  with  the  word  "  Holy  "  or  Invio- 
lable. It  was  not  so  much  an  ideal  to  fulfil,  as  some- 
thing to  avoid  transgressing.  In  a  word,  the  Law  in 
their  hands  became  negative  and  prohibitive  in 
spirit,  not  positive  and  attractive.  The  last  thing 
it  could  be  called  was  "a  law  of  liberty."  It 
was  made  an  end  in  itself;  and  so  obedience  to  it 
was  the  prerequisite  of  a  man's  coming  at  all  within 


220  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  range  of  God's  grace.  Their  religious  idea, 
therefore,  was  necessarily  exclusive  and  anti-Gentile 
in  the  extreme.  Their  influence,  the  moral  terror- 
ism they  established,  leading  to  partial  conformity 
outside  their  ranks,  was  very  great.  But  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  even  in  Jerusalem  the  strict  sort  were  a 
minority  of  the  people  ;  much  more  so  outside  its 
immediate  environs ;  while  beyond  Palestine  their 
ideal  was  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

Very  different  from  the  Pharisaic  or  Legalist  view 
of  the  Law  was  that  of  those  who  valued  it  mainly  on 
its  moral  rather  than  its  ritual  side.  Their  attitude 
to  God's  Law,  the  sum  total  of  His  statutes  for  the 
guidance  of  life  in  the  paths  of  Justice,  Mercy,  and 
Fidelity  (Matt,  xxiii.  23),  was  that  of  Psalmists  like 
the  authors  of  Psalm  xix.  (7-14),  cxix.,  or  of  the 
writers  of  Proverbs  and  the  other  Old  Testament 
literature,  canonical  and  uncanonical,  in  which  God 
is  regarded  as  wooing  men  by  His  wisdom  to  ways 
of  safety  and  peace.  They  understood  the  Divine 
Law  much  as  the  Prophets  had  done,  to  whom  God's 
will  was  summed  up  in  the  maxim  "  Do  justly,  love 
mercy,  walk  humbly  with  thy  God."  In  brief,  their 
use  of  the  Thorah  was  devotional,  not  legal.  Theirs 
was  the  Thorah  as  expounded,  not  by  "the  tradition 
of  the  Elders,"  but  by  the  Prophets  and  the  Preach- 
ers, men  wise  in  conduct  rather  than  in  sacred  ju- 
risprudence. This  party  of  the  unsophisticated  con- 
science, as  we  may  style  it,  to  whom  moral  relations 
to  God  and  man  were  far  more  than  purity  of  ritual 
precision,  was  large.  Not  that  it  was  by  any  means 
uniform  either  in  the  earnestness  of  its  members  or  in 


James1  Zeal  not  Pharisaic  but  Essenic.       221 

the  things  by  which  they  laid  most  store.  Yet  in  all 
its  sections  it  had  responded  in  some  degree  to  the 
appeal  of  the  Baptist  for  penitence  and  preparedness 
of  heart  against  the  near  Advent  of  the  Messianic 
Kingdom,  as  set  forth,  for  instance,  in  the  closing 
chapters  of  Malachi. 

These  distinctions  latent  even  in  Palestinian  Ju- 
daism were  brought  clearly  to  light  by  the  preaching 
of  John  the  Baptist.  In  men's  attitude  to  this  Jesus 
himself  saw  an  index  of  their  probable  attitude  to 
His  own  Gospel.  Now  John  was  in  many  ways  a 
most  loyal  Jew,  certainly  one  who  enjoyed  a  high 
name  for  saintliness  among  the  people  at  large.  Yet 
the  man  who  could  protest  indignantly  that  God  was 
able  of  stones  to  raise  up  children  to  Abraham,  made 
but  little  of  the  line  between  physical  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, and  presumably  of  circumcision  as  the  physical 
condition  of  God's  favor  and  blessing.  Not  that  he 
sat  lightly  to  the  Mosaic  Law  as  regulating  Jewish 
piety ;  but  he  viewed  the  Law  and  all  Mosaic  insti- 
tutions through  the  eyes  of  his  teachers,  the  Proph- 
ets. His  idea  of  purity  and  its  opposite  was  mainly 
moral  through  and  through.  To  him  the  defiling 
thing  was  worldliness  in  its  myriad  forms;  purity  lay 
in  renunciation  of  spirit,  to  which  certain  forms  of 
bodily  abstinence  were  valuable  aids.  If  he  shared 
the  view  that  Gentiles  were  "sinners"  and  "un- 
clean," he  would  think  mainly  of  the  moral  cor- 
ruption and  impurity  so  rife  among  idolaters,  whose 
religion  was  indifferent  to  morality  and  brought  no 
light  and  strength  to  the  conscience. 

As  we   keep   these    things   in   mind,   fresh  light 


222  The  Apostolic  Age. 


breaks  on  the  parties  and  controversies  reflected  in 
the  pages  of  Acts.  For  it  is  hardly  open  to  ques- 
tion that  a  large  majority  of  the  earliest  believers  in 
Jesus  as  Messiah  had  shared  the  Baptist's  ways  of 
thinking  and  feeling,  which  were  quite  other  than 
the  Pharisaic.  And  this  is  eminently  true  of  the 
Lord's  brethren,  whose  reserve  toward  their  broth- 
er's claims  was  probably  due  to  much  the  same 
causes  as  John's.  "  The  meekness  and  gentleness  of 
Christ"  and  His  unostentatious  methods  were  an 
offence  to  their  Messianic  ideals,  until  belief  in  the 
resurrection,  as  God's  own  seal  of  approval  set  upon 
His  Beloved,  confirmed  His  ideal  of  the  Kingdom 
and  opened  their  eyes  to  the  more  gracious  and  pa- 
tient side  of  the  prophetic  image  of  the  Chosen  One. 
And  in  this  same  connection  it  is  instructive  to  ob- 
serve how  much  as  a  matter  of  course  Apollos 
and  other  of  John's  disciples  seem  to  have  passed 
over  to  some  sort  of  faith  in  Messiah  Jesus. 

We  shall  be  far  nearer  the  truth,  then,  if  we  relate 
the  piety  of  James,  as  of  the  Apostles  in  general,  to 
that  which  breathes  in  the  Magnificat  and  Benedictus, 
or  lives  in  the  pages  of  Philo  and  Josephus  touching 
the  Essenes,  than  if  we  mention  it  in  conjunction 
with  Pharisaic  zeal  for  the  Law.  Indeed,  the  Es- 
senic  type  of  Judaism  supplies  the  real  analogy  in 
many  respects.  They  were  devoted  to  the  ideal  of 
religious  purity  as  zealously  as  any  Pharisee.  But 
they  conceived  its  nature  and  conditions  in  another 
way,  distinct  from  all  that  could  be  called  strictly 
national.  To  them  "  worship,  pure  and  undefiled," 
consisted  in  deeds  of  charity  and  life  "  unspotted  from 


Concordat  Supported  by  Christian  Consciousness.  223 

the  world."  Nor  did  they  regard  it  as  indissolubly 
bound  up  with  either  of  the  two  great  institutions  of 
Judaism,  the  Temple-worship,  and  the  Law,  as  ex- 
pounded by  the  tradition  of  the  elders.  Thus  they 
show  how  men  could  be  loyal  Jews  and  yet  understand 
the  meaning  of  Life  under  the  Law  very  differently 
from  the  Pharisees.  They  lived,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
aloof  from  either,  falling  back,  in  certain  of  their 
usages  for  ensuring  purity  of  body  as  well  as  of  soul, 
upon  a  sort  of  Law  of  Nature,  on  which  the  Mosaic 
usages  were  assumed  to  depend.  Such  a  Law  it  was 
that  most  Jews,  especially  in  the  Dispersion,  probably 
discerned  in  the  so-called  Noachic  covenant  (cf.  Gen. 
ix.  1-17) — or  what  at  this  period  corresponded 
thereto — and  on  the  broad  lines  of  which  the  Jerusa- 
lem Concordat  as  a  matter  of  fact  proceeded.  We 
may  safely  assume,  then,  that  James,  whose  piety 
was  akin  to  Peter's,  in  reading  the  Law  through  the 
Prophets — as  he  does  explicitly  in  his  words  at  the 
Jerusalem  conference — simply  desired  that  Gentiles 
should  give  guarantees  against  their  typical  sins  of 
Idolatry  and  Impurity,  understood  in  the  large  sense 
ingrained  in  Jewish  sentiment  and  based  in  part  on 
pre-Mosaic  prescription.  The  last  sacred  mystery, 
Life,  seemed  to  be  involved  in  men's  attitude  to 
blood,  the  life-principle,  and  to  the  sexual  relation, 
which  lies  at  the  very  springs  of  life.  It  is  true  that 
the  Christian  consciousness  has  come  to  distinguish 
sharply  between  human  and  animal  life-blood ;  and 
so  would  apply  the  underlying  principle  somewhat 
differently.  Otherwise  it  supports  the  sentiment 
of  James'  Concordat ;  indeed  in  so  doing  it  has  often 


224  The  Apostolic  Age. 

been  content  to  lose  converts  on  the  mission  field. 
Much  more  so  might  there  seem,  even  to  Jews  lib- 
eral as  regards  circumcision  (carrying  obligation  to 
the  whole  Law  on  the  same  level  with  born  Jews), 
to  be  grave  need  for  guarding  against  an  incompati- 
bility between  faith  and  conduct  arising  in  a  moral 
atmosphere  like  that  of  Syria  in  the  first  century. 
And  the  case  becomes  yet  clearer,  if  they  had  already 
in  mind  the  cases  in  which  Jews  and  Gentiles  were 
brought  together  in  the  intimate  social  intercourse 
of  sacred  meals,  right  to  partake  of  which  depended 
on  Christian  baptism,  and  that  alone. 

Now,  we  saw  reason  to  believe  that  Peter's  vacilla- 
tion at  Antioch  on  the  point  of  full  Gentile  equality 
in  this  regard,  preceded  and  did  not  follow  the  Jeru- 
salem Concordat.  We  are  the  freer,  then,  to  give 
full  force  to  the  fact  that  Paul  makes  Peter's  draw- 
ing back  from  his  own  instinctive  line  of  conduct 
coincide  with  the  arrival  of  "  certain  from  James  " ; 
and  yet  to  deny  that  James  really  belonged  to  "  the 
party  of  circumcision,"  any  more  than  did  Peter. 
As  we  read  his  attitude,  it  was  this.  He  heard  what 
was  going  on  at  Antioch.  He  felt  that  Peter's  action 
might  be  right  in  point  of  fact,  as  in  the  case  of  Cor- 
nelius, where  the  Gentiles  were  men  of  what  he  es- 
teemed "pure"  life.  But  he  knew  of  no  guarantees 
that  this  was  the  case,  and  therefore  he  had  no  satis- 
factory basis  on  which  to  defend  the  action,  as  a  pre- 
cedent, to  those  about  him  in  Jerusalem  who  might 
challenge  it.  He  wished,  therefore,  to  remind 
Peter,  whose  impulsiveness  would  be  well  known  to 
him,  of  the  need  of  considering  the  principles  in- 


PauVs  Attitude  at  Antioch.  225 

volved  in  his  action.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  the 
envoys  included  some  of  Pharisaic  antecedents,  and 
that  these  outran  the  spirit  of  their  commission. 
But  from  the  fact  that  both  Peter  and  Barnabas  felt 
they  had  gone  further  than  they  could  as  yet  jus- 
tify on  principle,  one  may  infer  that  there  was  no 
difference  in  principle  between  themselves  and  James. 
It  was,  in  a  sense,  a  point  of  expediency,  one  deter- 
mined by  the  two  moral  traditions,  the  two  standards 
of  conscience,  of  men  already  recognized  as  standing 
on  one  and  the  same  Messianic  foundation.  And 
they  needed  further  reflection  to  see  their  way  out 
of  the  difficulty  theoretically. 

To  Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  things  would  shape 
themselves  quite  otherwise.  He  had,  in  the  first 
place,  a  far  more  vivid  sense  of  the  change  in  prin- 
ciple involved  in  laying  aside  all  thought  of  justifica- 
tion by  the  Law,  which  was  the  current  notion  of 
Judaism.  He  saw  things,  that  is,  as  one  who  had 
trusted  fully  to  the  Law  for  righteousness  and  had 
felt  it  give  way  under  him :  he  saw  as  the  ex-Phari- 
see. And  this  is  the  aspect  which  he  enforces  in  his 
reproof  of  Peter.  But  further,  as  regards  expediency 
even,  he  realized  the  interests  of  Christianity  out- 
side Palestine  no  less  than  those  within  it.  And 
from  this  standpoint,  a  formal  dualism  in  Chris- 
tianity, wherever  Jew  and  Gentile  believers  lived 
side  by  side  (but  as  if  on  different  levels  of  religious 
purity),  would  simply  be  intolerable.  It  would  be  an 
object-lesson  tacitly  declaring  to  all  men  that  there 
still  existed  a  "  middle-wall  of  partition "  between 
Jew  and  Gentile,  that  is  between  circumcised  and 
o 


226  The  Apostolic  Age. 


uncircumcised,  even  though  circumcision  and  the 
Thorah  as  such  were  no  longer  held  indispensable  to 
union  with  the  Christ.  This  was  in  effect  so  flat  a 
negation  of  the  sole  sufficiency  of  Christ  to  salva- 
tion— in  which  the  elder  apostles  had  concurred  in 
conference  with  him  and  Barnabas  at  Jerusalem — 
that  it  could  not  be  admitted  for  a  moment  on  Gen- 
tile soil.  There,  at  any  rate,  Palestinian  sensibili- 
ties could  not  rightly  prevail.  And  so  he  opposed 
the  policy  with  all  his  energy  of  clear  conviction ; 
and  we  can  hardly  question,  with  success.  But  we 
cannot  infer  that  he  considered  James,  any  more 
than  Peter  (whom  he  rebuked  to  his  face),  a  theoretic 
Judaizer,  but  only  as  lacking  in  consistent  perception 
of  all  the  bearings  of  what  they  both  alike  admitted.1 
And  with  this  agree  all  his  other  references  to  James. 
He  nowhere  suggests  that  James  really  differed  from 
Peter,  though  he  may  have  been  more  cautious  than 
his  impulsive  colleague.  From  both  of  them,  at  every 
stage,  he  distinguishes  the  semi-Pharisaic  party  of 
circumcision,  who  were  wont  to  use  both  names 
equally  as  it  suited  their  purpose,  to  give  fictitious 
weight  to  their  own  Judaizing  policy. 

With  the  history  of  these  only  semi-Christian  Ju- 
daizers,  whether  in  the  earlier  Apostolic  Age  or  in 
the  later,  when  they  crystallized  into  churches  sepa- 
rated from  the  life  of  the  Church  as  a  whole  and  be- 
came known  as  Ebionites,  we  need  not  concern  our- 

1  It  must  be  remembered  that  in  Gal.  ii.  Paul  is  referring  to 
tbis  episode  only  in  one  special  aspect,  that  of  bis  own  independ- 
ence. That  only  was  ad  rem.  We  fall  into  unreality  when  we  for- 
get, in  using  Paul's  letters  for  historic  purposes,  that  their  author 
never  edited  them  as  materials  for  writing  history. 


James  more  Jeioish  than  Peter.  227 

selves  further.  They  had  little  of  the  new  principle 
of  life  in  them  and  soon  dwindled  into  comparative 
insignificance,  contributing  nothing  permanent  to  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church.  And  when  we  look 
closely  into  the  narrative  in  Acts,  we  see  that  they 
came  in  only  at  a  second  stage  of  the  Church's 
growth.  There  is  no  likelihood  that  they  were  part 
of  the  original  community  that  gathered  round  the 
personal  disciples  and  brethren  of  the  Lord  in  the 
early  days  of  strain  and  stress.  They  only  begin  to 
appear  after  the  persecution  under  Saul  has  quite 
blown  over,  and  after  the  scare  to  strict  Legalists 
occasioned  by  Stephen's  bold  prophetic  preaching 
has  been  so  far  effaced  by  the  dutifully  Jewish  lives 
of  the  Judaean  Christians.  Indeed  the  first  hint  of 
the  presence  of  such  men  among  the  Christians  oc- 
curs about  the  time  when  the  Gospel  was  already 
spreading  beyond  Palestine  (Acts  xi.  2,  19  ff.). 

We  have,  therefore,  found  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  Galilean  James  was  more  attached  to  the 
Law  as  esteemed  by  men  who  regarded  the  "  tra- 
dition of  the  elders,"  than  was  Peter  or  even,  for 
that  matter,  his  greater  Brother. 

That  James  was  more  Jewish  than  Peter  in  the 
manner  of  his  piety  we  can  believe,  especially  in 
view  of  his  subsequent  reputation  among  both 
Jews  and  Ebionitic  Christians.  But  this  is  amply 
explained  by  supposing  him  to  have  adhered  closely 
to  the  piety  created  or  deepened  in  him  by  the 
Baptist.  In  Peter,  on  the  other  hand,  such  an 
ideal  had  been  modified  by  close  discipleship  of 
the  less  ascetic,  the   more  broadly  human    Son  of 


228  The  Apostolic  Age. 


Man,  whose  image,  indelibly  traced  on  his  inmost 
soul,  controlled  his  instincts  and  practice  far  be- 
yond the  point  to  which  his  intellect  reflectively 
penetrated.  Supposing,  then,  that  James  lived  much 
as  one  under  a  permanent  Nazirite  vow,  we  suppose 
all  that  our  sources  demand:  and  we  may  picture 
him  as  therein  highly  representative  of  Palestinian 
Christians.  But  we  are  no  nearer  making  James  a 
legalist  or  a  Judaizer  in  relation  to  Gentiles.1  Nor 
have  we  any  reason  to  believe  that  the  latter  type, 
whose  principle  was  "through  circumcision  to 
Christ,"  had  any  representative  within  the  inner 
apostolic  circle.  And  so  we  can  well  understand 
the  strong  language  of  St.  Paul,  when  he  styles  their 
leaders,  when  we  catch  our  first  sure  glimpse  of 
them,  "interloping  pseudo-brethren." 

In  trying  to  imagine  the  Christian  outlook  of  a 
man  like  James,  we  naturally  ask,  What  attitude 
would  he,  as  a  believer  in  Jesus  as  Messiah,  assume 
to  unbelieving  Israel?  On  this  there  can  be  little 
doubt.  He  and  the  other  Palestinian  leaders  seem 
never  to  have  given  up  all  expectation  that  Israel  as 
a  people — not  the  more  worldly  types,  but  the  mass 
of  middle-class  Israel,  and  of  course  the  humbler  folk 
— would  pass  over  into  the  New  Covenant-relation 
with  God  mediated  by  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  and  so 
claim  their  share  in  the  Messianic  Kingdom  soon  to 
be  revealed  in  glory  at  the  Parousia  or  Return  of 
the  Exalted  Saviour  and  Judge.     This  is  the  mean- 

1  Kabban  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel,  a  younger  contemporary  of 
James,  said  :  "On  tbree  things  tbe  world  stands;  on  Judgment, 
and  on  Trutb,  and  on  Peace"  {id.  i.  19).  Sucb  sayings  should 
warn  us  against  too  rigid  notions  of  Jewish  ideals  of  God's  Law. 


Yet  no  Judaizer :  his  Epistle.  229 

ing  of  the  way,  strange  and  beside  the  mark  to  us, 
in  which  Peter  addresses  his  countrymen  in  the 
early  chapters  of  Acts. 

"  Take  ye  refuge  from  this  generation,  this  crooked  generation." 
"Repent  then,  and  turn  again,  unto  the  blotting  out  of  your 
sins;  that  so  may  come  seasons  of  refreshing  from  the  presence  of 
the  Lord  and  He  may  send  the  Christ  appointed  for  you,  even 
Jesus ;  whom  heaven  must  needs  receive  until  the  times  of  the 
restoration  of  all  things  whereof  God  spake  by  the  mouth  of  His 
holy  prophets  since  the  world  began.  .  .  .  Ye  are  the  sons  of 
the  prophets  and  of  the  covenant  with  Abraham  (of  world-wide 
blessing,  through  his  seed).  .  .  .  To  you  in  the  first  instance, 
God,  having  raised  up  His  Servant  (as  Prophet  greater  than 
Moses,  v.  22)  sent  Him  to  bless  you  (by  His  first  advent)  in  turn- 
ing away  every  one  from  his  sins.  .  .  .  Whom  ye  (address- 
ing the  rulers)  did  to  death,  hanging  Him  on  a  tree.  Him  God 
exalted  with  His  right  hand  as  Prince  and  Saviour,  to  give 
repentance  to  Israel  and  remission  of  sins.  And  we,  here,  are 
witnesses  of  these  things,  as  also  the  Holy  Spirit  given  of  God  (as 
token  of  the  Messianic  era,  accoiding  to  Joel  ii.  28  ff.)  to  those 
who  yield  to  His  rule." 

Such  a  series  of  passages l  has  this  special  sig- 
nificance in  the  present  connection,  that  the  attitude 
to  Israel  therein  implied,  must  have  been  that  still 
common  among  Jewish  Christians  when  the  nar- 
rative on  which  Luke  here  draws  was  set  down  in 
writing  and  circulated  among  believers  for  edification. 
This  being  so,  we  are  entitled  to  use  it  as  evidence 
for  the  outlook  and  attitude  of  James  about  44-50 
A.  D.  And  it  teaches  us  that  he  would  naturally 
view  Israel,  as  a  whole,  much  as  an  Old  Testament 
prophet  viewed  his  people,  in  spite  of  their  mixed 
condition  of  receptivity.     He  would  think  of  Israel 

1  Acts  ii.  40,  iii.  19-21,  26,  v.  30-32. 


230  The  Apostolic  Age. 


as  such  as  the  proper  object  of  his  ministry,  hoping 
against  hope  that  the  obdurate  majority  would 
finally  yield  obedience  to  a  message  that  was  the 
special  birthright  of  all  Abraham's  seed. 

Thus  we  seem  to  have  won  a  position  from  which 
we  are  entitled  to  use  the  encyclical  Epistle  of  James 
not  only  as  a  work  of  the  Lord's  brother,  but  also  as 
a  document  that  fits  into  a  sad  gap  in  our  knowledge. 
Of  the  existence  of  a  liberal  Palestinian  Christianity 
we  are  aware  from  other  sources,  for  instance  in  the 
person   of  Peter.      But   we   have,    apart   from    the 
epistle  in  question,  no  literary  monument  of  it.     It 
is  most  natural  that  this  circle,  standing  in  close  re- 
lation to  the  Hellenistic  or  Judseo-Greek  Christianity 
of  Syria  and  the  adjacent  regions,  should  have  pro- 
duced something  in  writing  and  that  it  should  have 
been    preserved.     The   alternative   theories,    which 
neglect  this  clue,  seem  only  to  confirm  it  by  their 
mutual  opposition.     The  one,  while  recognizing  its 
close  affinities  with  a  certain  side  of  Judaism,  the 
4  Wisdom  '  type  seen  in  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the 
Testaments   of  the    Twelve    Patriarchs  for  instance, 
makes  it  originally  a  purely  Jewish  work,  afterward 
readapted.1     The   other   regards   it   as   a   Christian 
homily  dating  from  the  close  of  the  first  century  or 
even    later,    which    became    transformed    into    an 
Epistle  general  and   assigned   to  James.      On  this 
view  the  absence  of  more  obvious  Christian  traits  is 
even  harder  to  explain.     In  fact  the  theories  tend  to 

Supposing  the  references  to  Christ  in  i.  1,  ii.  1,  to  be  later 
touches  to  commend  it  to  Christian  readers.  But  would  an 
editor,  with  this  object  in  view,  have  stopped  short  at  these? 


James'  Semi-Prophetic  Strain.  231 

cancel  each  other ;  while  the  authorship  claimed  in 
the  opening  address  combines  their  positive  ad- 
vantages, when  once  we  get  beyond  the  bald  notion 
of  Palestinian  Judaism  as  simply  Pharisaism. 

Accordingly  we  imagine  James,  probably  not  long 
after  the  death  of  his  namesake,  the  son  of  Zebedee 
(early  in  44  A.  D.),  taking  in  hand  to  address  a  sort 
of  prophetic  pastoral  (for  the  idea  of  which  there  are 
analogies  in  the  Apocrypha)  to  "the  sons  of  the 
prophets  and  of  the  Covenant  "  scattered  amid  aliens 
outside  the  Holy  Land.  Nor  would  he  have  to 
write  quite  vaguely  or  in  the  air.  The  constant  flow 
of  pilgrims  to  Jerusalem,  especially  to  the  great 
Feasts,  would  make  him  familiar  with  the  actual 
conditions  of  life  and  the  besetting  sins  of  his 
brethren  of  the  Dispersion ;  and  there  would  be  suf- 
ficient similarity  of  conditions  in  Jewish  com- 
munities everywhere  to  make  his  own  experience  in 
Palestine  a  fair  point  of  departure.  He  writes  then 
in  semi-prophetic  strain,  continuing,  on  a  higher 
level  and  with  clearer  light,  the  appeal  of  the  Bap- 
tist. John  had  been  forerunner  of  the  Kingdom  ere 
Messiah  had  appeared.  Now  Messiah  had  come,  and 
had  made  the  nature  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  condi- 
tions of  entrance  more  evident.  And  so  James  strives 
to  prepare  the  way  of  the  returning  Lord,  first  and 
foremost  among  His  professed  disciples,  but  also  in 
Judaism  at  large.  For  was  He  not,  even  then, 
•'  standing  before  the  doors  "  as  Judge  ?  Oh,  that  it 
might  be  not  unto  "  wrath,"  but  unto  Salvation  for 
the  People  of  the  Promises !  Nor  was  there  any 
reason  why  James  should  despair  of  getting  a  measure 


232  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  attention  from  even  non-Christian  Jews.  The 
"  sect  of  the  Nazarenes  "  was  not  at  once  viewed  as 
more  than  an  eccentric  school  of  Judaism.  Accord- 
ingly one  of  its  prophets,  a  man  with  a  high  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity  of  an  ascetic  order  and  unmistak- 
ably full  of  prophetic  passion,  might  well  seem  to 
speak  to  Israelites  in  the  name  of  God. 

It  was  then,  quite  worth  his  while  to  issue  such  an 
appeal,  especially  where  it  might  be  a  final  appeal  to 
his  people,  on  the  eve  of  what  was  on  all  hands  felt 
to  be  imminent  crisis  in  Israel's  history.  With  the 
death  of  Herod  Agrippa,  in  44,  the  shadow  of  a  native 
kingship  had  disappeared  ;  and  the  renewal  of  govern- 
ment by  Roman  procurators  became  the  signal  for 
patriotic  risings  under  Theudas  and  the  sons  of 
Judas  of  Galilee,  just  as  the  first  introduction  of  the 
system  had  been  marked  by  the  revolt  of  this  Judas 
about  7  A.  D.  (cf.  Acts  v.  37).  A  severe  famine, 
recognized  as  one  of  the  "  signs  "  or  "  throes "  to 
precede  the  establishment  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom, 
clouded  Palestine  about  46-47 ;  and  it  may  be  that 
we  have  hints  in  the  Epistle  of  the  experiences  of  this 
very  season  of  special  trial,  in  the  marked  stress  on 
the  subject  of  a  distressed  peasantry.  To  James  the 
very  parallelism  of  the  social  phenomena  which  he 
stigmatizes,  to  those  described  in  Malachi  iii.  5,  15, 
iv.  1-3,  (e.  g.}  the  oppression  of  "  the  hireling  in  his 
wages  "  and  forgetfulness  of  "the  Lord  of  Sabaoth  ") 
would  be  enough  to  indicate  "  the  last  days."  The 
days  were  in  every  respect  dark  days,  with  no  pros- 
pect of  betterment  but  only  of  aggravation.  We 
have,  then,  an  excellent  situation  for  the  Epistle  of 


Jewish   Christians  Among  the  Diaspora.      233 

James,  if  we  imagine  it  sent  forth  with  believing 
Jews  as  they  returned  from  the  Passover  any  time 
between  44  and  49  A.  D.  Later  than  49  it  can 
hardly  be,  if  it  was  in  49  that  the  question  of  the 
Gentile's  position  in  the  New  Israel  was  definitely 
raised  and  decided  (for  the  churches  in  which  it  had 
so  far  arisen)  by  a  collective  epistle  of  the  Jerusalem 
authorities.  At  an  earlier  date,  however,  believing 
Gentiles  could  still  be  ignored  as  simply  a  hand- 
ful adhering  to  the  skirts  of  the  true  Israel  within 
Israel. 

Antioch  indeed  stood  out,  even  by  44  A.  D.,  as  a 
notable  exception.  But  the  work  there  was  not  at 
first  regarded  as  the  beginning  of  a  rapid  and  far- 
reaching  change.  Any  seeming  anomalies  involved 
in  the  largely  Gentile  character  of  this  offshoot  of  the 
Palestinian  Ecclesia,  would  disappear  at  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  to  administer  His  own  Kingdom.  And 
was  He  not  already  at  the  doors  ?  To  men  in  such 
an  attitude  everything  would  bear  quite  a  provisional 
aspect.  And  this  explains  anything  in  the  policy  of 
the  Jerusalem  leaders  that  from  our  standpoint 
seems  lacking  in  logical  consistency. 

(c)     The  Epistle  of  James  (c.  44-49  A.  D.) 

In  writing  his  epistle  James  did  not  start  de  novo. 
He  was  entering,  as  the  bulk  of  his  matter  shows, 
into  an  already  existing  tradition  dating  from  the 
"wisdom  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach,"  commonly 
known  as  Ecclesiasticus.  The  more  one  studies  the 
earlier  chapters  of  this  work  the  more  one  feels  its 
influence,  along  with   that  of  the  book  of  Wisdom. 


234  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

Like  the  son  of  Sirach,  who  has  saturated  himself 
with  the  ethical  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  James 
gathers  up  the  "  wisdom  "  for  life  of  Israel's  true 
heritage,  now  perfected  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  reissues  it  for  the  guidance  of  much 
tried  brethren.  The  prevalent  experience  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  among  the  Diaspora  was  one  of 
constant  trial.  They  were  under  severe  pressure 
arising  from  the  enmity  of  their  neighbors,  especially 
the  rich  and  powerful.  Hence  the  epistle's  chief 
aim  is  to  confirm  them  in  loyalty  to  the  ideal  of  life 
prescribed  by  the  "  wisdom  "  which  is  God's  own 
sovereign  gift  (Ecclus.  i.  10,  26)  to  steadfast  faith, 
and  especially  in  a  patient  endurance.  By  gladly 
accepting  all  trials  as  God's  appointed  means  of 
training,  through  patience,  unto  perfection,  they 
will  escape  all  danger  of  backsliding  or  apostasy.1 
But  if  this  were  to  be  so,  they  must  give  no  heed 
to  any  fatalistic  suggestion  as  to  the  irresistibility 
of  any  temptation  to  evil. 

If  sin  result,  it  is  due  to  one's  own  unchastened 
desire.  The  will  and  nature  of-  the  "Father  of 
Lights  "  (a  phrase  in  which  the  God  of  Nature  and 
the  God  of  Grace  are  identified)  is  revealed  in  His 
having  brought  believers  to  a  new  spiritual  birth  by 
His  "  word  of  truth."  Let  them  brace  their  moral 
nature  with  these  reflections  and  rejoice  in  their  very 
trials. 

Persecution  is  next  seen  to  be  due  largely  to  a  prime 
evil  of  Jewish  Society,  the  cleavage  between  rich  and 

1  The  line  of  thought  is  suggested  by  Ecclus.  ii.  1,  ff.,  and  later 
reappears  in  Hebrews,  esp.  xii.  1-13 ;  cf.  ii.  10,  18,  v.  7-9. 


Messianic  Rule  Offensive  to  Rich  and  "Wise"    235 

poor.  This  had  long  colored  the  religious  thought  and 
language  of  Israel,  notably  in  certain  Psalms  and  in 
the  extra-canonical  literature.  "  The  poor  "  and  "  the 
rich,"  by  an  easy  passage  of  the  mind  to  the  temper 
promoted  by  either  condition — in  the  one  humility 
and  resignation,  in  the  other  pride  and  self-sufficiency 
— had  come  to  be  working  synonyms  for  the  godly 
and  the  worldly.  This  view  characterized  precisely 
those  circles  of  the  "  Quiet  in  the  Land  " — the  pa- 
tient, much  put-upon,  simple  folk — in  which  the 
Gospel  found  its  readiest  adherents.  Never  were 
the  ideals  of  the  best  section  of  the  Am-ha-aretz, 
"the  people  "  of  all  ages,  more  finally  enshrined  in 
words  than  in  the  Magnificat.  To  most  of  the 
Jewish  Christians  the  music  of  the  Gospel  was  the 
invitation  to  them  that  "  labor  and  are  heavy  laden" 
to  find  rest  in  a  yoke  that  was  easy  and  a  burden 
that  was  light;  to  accept  the  Lordship  of  One 
"  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  under  whom  the  soul 
could  find  the  rest  of  a  congenial  service.  To  them 
His  service  was  indeed  "perfect  freedom,"  in  con- 
trast to  the  yoke  imposed  hy  Legalists,  and  His 
"royal  Law  "  a  Law  of  Liberty.  For  it  was  a  Law 
that  had  in  it  a  spirit  which  they  could  understand 
and  respond  to,  the  law  of  Love.  But  to  two  types, 
at  the  opposite  pole  from  the  humble  poor,  this 
Messianic  Rule  brought  no  relief,  but  only  offence. 
These  were  "  the  wise  and  prudent,"  contrasted  with 
the  lowly  in  the  passage  just  cited,  and  the  rich  and 
proud,  reference  to  whom  in  the  Gospels  is  not  lack- 
ing (e.  g.,  Dives  and  Lazarus),  but  who  meet  us  in 
James'  epistle  in  unparalleled  distinctness.     In  Pal- 


236  The  Apostolic  Age. 


estine  the  former  had  its  climax  in  the  Pharisees; 
the  latter  in  the  Sadducaic  aristocracy  and  the  lead- 
ing Pharisees  of  the  capital  in  particular.  Among 
the  Diaspora  we  cannot  picture  them  so  clearly  ;  but 
there  must  have  been  analogous  classes ;  the  type  of 
Jew  argued  against  in  Rom.  ii.,  iii.,  is  clearly  of  the 
self-complacently  "  wise  "  type. 

By  both  these  types  James'  spirit  had  been  deeply 
stirred,  and  most  of  all  by  their  combination  in  cer- 
tain cases.  Against  the  heartless  and  worldly- 
minded  "  rich,"  grinding  the  face  of  the  poor  who 
reaped  their  fields  and  otherwise  produced  their 
wealth,  battening  themselves  in  the  dark  and  serious 
days  of  their  nation's  destinies,  his  anger  breaks 
forth  in  the  old  prophetic  strain.  As  his  message  to 
his  compatriots,  through  the  believing  among  them, 
draws  to  a  close,  he  rises  into  denunciation  and 
warning  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  a  Malachi,  from 
whom  he  seems  to  derive  part  of  his  inspiration  (iv. 
13-v.  6).  Here  those  in  view  are  purse-proud  Is- 
raelites, marked  by  the  overweening  spirit  of  "  the 
men  of  this  world  "  held  in  such  abomination  by  the 
Psalmist,  and  against  whom  Jehovah's  face  was  ever 
most  sternly  set.  They  had  added  to  their  defiant 
attitude  toward  the  Almighty— as  if  their  own  Prov- 
idence (cf.  Ecclus.  v.  1-3,  for  the  type) — the  blood  of 
"  the  righteous,"  the  humble  disciple  of  Jesus,  who 
meekly  and  unresistingly  bent  his  neck  to  the  stroke 
(v.  6).  Over  such  men,  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth  was  hanging  like  a  black  cloud,  just  about 
to  break  in  desolating  might. 

But  there  was  another  type  of  mixed  worldliness 


Unworldliness  the  Essence  of  James'1  Idea.     237 

and  zeal  for  the  Law,  standing  nearer  the  borders  of 
the  lowly  brotherhood,  and  occupying  much  of  James' 
attention.  He  bids  such  an  one  glory  "in  that 
he  is  made  lowly  "  in  spirit  and  associations.  For 
the  proud  flowers  of  earth  are  to  be  blasted  by  God's 
"Scorching  Wind"  that  will  soon  sweep  over  its 
plains.  To  his  eye  the  men  of  worldly  position  are 
in  deadly  danger,  the  danger  of  spiritual  adultery, 
that  disloyalty  to  Heavenly  Love  on  which  the  an- 
cient prophets  dwelt  with  such  poignant  power.  To 
such  he  cries, J  "  Know  ye  not  that  the  world's 
friendship  means  God's  enmity  ?  "  Here  is  the  es- 
sence of  James'  religious  idea.  To  be  "  unspotted 
from  the  world,"  this  and  nothing  else  is  true  piety. 
Nothing  so  smirches  with  the  world's  spotting  as 
selfishness,  which  lies  at  the  root  of  the  love  of 
money — that  "root  of  all  the  evils."  Its  conqueror 
and  antidote  is  also  one,  Love.  Loving  God  is  the 
secret  of  "  the  crown  of  life  "  and  the  Kingdom  that 
are  in  God's  gift;  and  loving  one's  neighbor  is  the 
manifestation  of  this  same  love.  Hence  the  high 
ritual  of  religion  is  to  "  tend  the  orphan  and  widow 
in  their  affliction,"  and  so  escape  all  spot  of  worldly 
self-love. 

Even  among  would-be  disciples,  men  ready  to  say 
"  Lord,  Lord,"  James  knew  of  men  whose  bicker- 
ings and  contentions  showed  the  evil  root  from 
which  their  life  was  really  growing,  even  the  love  of 
self-indulgence,  of  the  "pleasures  that  war  in  the 

lCh.  iv.  4 ;  cf.  Matt.  vi.  24;  Luke  xvi.  9,  13,  "Ye  cannot  serve 
God  and  Mammon  " ;  where  the  moral  is  "  make  to  yourselves, 
friends  by  means  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness," 


238  The  Apostolic  Age. 

members."  And  when  desire  lacked  other  outlet,  it 
led  to  envy  of  others,  and  then  to  actual  strife. 
Such  adulterous  souls  he  solemnly  reminds  of  God's 
jealous  yearning  after  the  spirit  which  He  has  caused 
to  dwell  in  man  (cf.  Num.  xvi.  22),  and  touching 
God's  readiness  to  give  more  grace,  to  meet  new-found 
infirmity.  Safety  lies  in  yet  deeper  submission  to 
God's  gracious  will.  Double-faced  souls,  with  one 
side  turned  to  God,  the  other  to  their  pleasures,  are 
simply  sinners  whose  hands  need  cleansing  from  the 
lie  that  is  therein,  and  whose  hearts  need  a  true  con- 
secration. l  Short  of  this,  they  are  heritors  not  of 
the  Beatitudes  but  of  the  Woes  that  match  them  in 
one  version  of  the  Divine  Sermon.2  True  exalta- 
tion cometh  only  from  God,  and  the  path  lies  through 
self-humbling.  Nor  is  such  humility  compatible  with 
the  censorious  spirit,  which  takes  on  itself  to  criti- 
cise the  Law  as  it  lives  in  a  brother's  conscience. 3 
In  so  doing  a  man  leaves  his  proper  station  as  a  sim- 
ple doer  of  Law,  and  mounts  the  Judge's  tribunal, 
an  act  resented  by  the  sole  Lawgiver  and  Judge. 
On  the  other  hand,  "  to  him  that  knoweth  to  do 
good,  and  doeth  it  not,  to  him  attaches  sin."  Ac- 
cordingly James  devotes  much  of  his  letter  to  bring- 

1  In  James,  as  in  the  Sermon  (Matt.  v.  8,  vi.  22,  flf.),  purity 
of  heart  is  the  same  as  singleness  of  eye. 

a  With  v.  9,  compare  Luke  vi.  25,  "  Woe,  ye  that  laugh  now, 
for  ye  shall  mourn  and  weep." 

3  Such  seems  the  sense  in  which  James  takes  words  like  Matt, 
vii.  1  f.  ;  Luke  vi.  37  f.  He  feels  with  Paul  that  different  ideals 
of  God's  will  are  possible  among  His  true  servants  (Rom.  xiv.  3- 
6,  10-12,  13,  22).  So  Hillel  {Pirqe  Aboih,  ii.  5)  used  to  Bay : 
"Judge  not  thy  friend  until  thou  comest  into  his  place." 


Spheres  of  Belief  and  Conduct  Inseparable.     239 

ing  out  the  vanity  of  mere  self-complacent  acquies- 
cence in  God's  Law,  mere  faith  in  an  objective  body 
of  Divine  Truth,  "  the  faith."  This,  stultified  by  alien 
conduct,  jealousy  for  instance,  is  but  "  lying  against 
the  truth." 

Again  and  again  he  returns  to  this  theme  from 
different  sides.  His  tone  toward  those  prone  to  mere 
hearing  of  the  Word,  without  genuine  reception  of  it 
into  the  heart  as  an  "inbred  word"  leading  to  kin- 
dred actions — as  a  germinating  seed  has  its  due 
issue  in  fruit— corresponds  exactly  to  Christ's  con- 
troversy with  Pharisaism.  They  approved  the  right 
theory  of  life  as  zealously  as  any ;  but  they  got  no 
further.  The  Jews  whom  James  has  in  view  as  tainted 
with  the  "leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  which  is  hypo- 
crisy," had  accepted  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  as 
an  authoritative  exposition  of  the  real  meaning  of 
the  Law,  and  admitted  in  theory  the  prophetic  view 
that  "justice  and  mercy  and  faith"  {i.e.,  humble 
trust  in  God)  far  outweighed  all  ritual  matters.  So 
far,  so  good.  But  here  a  fatal  habit  of  mind  came 
in  and  spoiled  all ;  the  absence  of  a  living  conscience, 
that  necessity  of  making  actions  conform  to  convic 
tions.  There  was  a  missing  link  in  their  moral  sys- 
tem ;  the  two  spheres  of  belief  and  conduct  revolved 
round  their  respective  axes  independently.  This 
was  the  heartbreaking  sight  that  often  shocked  the 
soul  of  James,  even  among  those  who  were  called  by 
"the  fair  Name"  of  Jesus  the  Christ.1     And  so  he 

•The  Master's  words,  "And  why  call  ye  me  Lord,  Lord,  and 
do  not  the  things  that  I  say  "  (Luke  vi.  46;  cf.  Matt.  vii.  21), 
were  constantly  being  verified  in  the  Church's  experience. 


240  The  Apostolic  Age. 

breaks  off  his  high  meditation  on  God's  fatherly 
nature,  with  the  words :  "  Yes,  ye  are  aware  of  all 
this,  my  brethren  beloved."  But  what  does  it  all 
come  to  in  our  daily  lives  ?  Little  patient  hearing, 
much  hasty  speech,  not  a  little  hot  passion,  to  the 
hindrance  of  the  righteousness  loved  of  God.  Let 
them  stay  the  overflow  of  a  foul  and  malicious 
tongue,  and  quietly  obey.  Let  them  be  doers,  not 
only  hearers.  Let,  then,  every  aspirant  to  the  title 
''religious"  begin  by  this  simple  test,  quietness 
of  spirit.  He  need  go  no  further  for  the  present. 
For  he  that  bridleth  not  his  own  proud  tongue,  "that 
man's  '  religion '  is  vain."  And  another  test  there 
is,  like  to  the  former,  viz,  loving-kindness  to  those  in 
trouble  and  need,1  the  best  antidote  to  worldliness — 
that  great  defiler. 

In  these  ways  may  selfhood  be  exorcized.  But  it 
has  many  disguises.  Thus  to  profess  the  faith  of 
the  meek  Lord  of  Glory,  and  yet  to  pay  respect  to 
men's  outward  estate,  is  a  glaring  inconsistency. 
James  had  seen  or  heard  of  cases  like  this.  The 
brethren  are  assembled  for  worship  after  Jewish 
fashion;  a  grand  seigneur  enters  in  all  his  glory, 
and  at  the  same  moment  a  poor  man  in  squalid  at- 
tire. What  happens  ?  Just  what  happened  in  a 
synagogue  where  no  Christians  were  present; 
namely  obsequious  courtesy  to  the  distinguished 
visitor,   degrading   patronage   of  the   obscure   one. 

lSo  Ecclua.  iv.  10:  "Be  as  a  father  to  the  fatherless,  and  in 
place  of  a  husband  to  their  mother  :  so  shalt  thou  be  as  a  son  of 
the  Most  High,  and  He  shall  love  thee  more  than  thy  mother 
doth  "  :  also  vii.  34,  xxxv.  14  f. 


Faith  not  to  be  Divorced  from  Works.        241 

Yet  the  former  was  one  of  the  class  (in  Judaea  the 
Sadducaic  aristocracy  in  particular)  that  lorded  it 
roughly  over  the  brethren,  nay  even  dragged  them 
into  the  law-courts  and  was  wont  to  revile  "  the  fair 
Name  "  of  their  Lord.  Whereas  it  was  for  the  latter, 
as  a  class,  that  the  Almighty  Himself  had  marked 
His  preference,  as  "  rich  in  faith  and  heirs  of  the 
Kingdom  which  He  promised  to  them  that  love 
Him." 1  Partiality,  then,  was  simply  sin ;  and  the  men 
who  showed  it  were  convicted  as  mere  transgressors 
of  the  very  Law  for  which  they  professed  such  zeal. 
For  was  it  not  a  maxim  of  the  lawyers  themselves, 
that  the  breach  of  a  single  precept  violated  the  Law 
in  all  its  parts.  Let  them  take  heed,  then ;  for  they 
too  had  to  pass  muster  with  Messiah's  Law;  and 
though  it  was  a  Law  of  Liberty,  of  the  spirit  and  not 
of  the  letter,  it  was  none  the  less  exigent  for  that.2 
Only  to  the  "merciful"  would  it  prove  itself  merci- 
ful.    Mercy  alone  can  turn  the  edge  of  Judgment. 

At  this  point  James  imagines  the  man  of  orthodox 
belief  but  disobedient  life  turning  to  defend  himself, 
with  the  plea  that  there  is  more  than  one  way  of 
pleasing  God.  One,  he  urges,  is  strong  in  "faith," 
another  in  "works."  Let  each  cultivate  his  own 
talent,  without  insisting  that  his  neighbor  should 
possess  it  likewise,  on  the  principle  of  "  Live  and  let 
live."     In  reply  James  first  brings  the  matter  to  the 

1  "  They  that  love  Him  "  is  a  favorite  phrase  with  Ecclus.  e.  g., 
ii.  15  f.;  cf.  iv.  10. 

2  How  close  is  the  teaching  of  James  ii.  8-12  to  the  Sermon  as 
found  in  Matt.  v.  17,  20,  vii.  12-14,  24,  particularly  to  the  Golden 
Rule,  declared  to  be  the  sum  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  (vi.  12; 
cf.  Luke  vi.  31). 

P 


242  The  Apostolic  Age. 


test  of  a  homely,  practical  case,  one  affecting  human 
well-being.  Will  the  pious  wish  that  a  brother  "go 
in  peace  and  get  warmed  and  fed,"  apart  from  any 
effort  to  fulfil  the  wish,  profit  the  needy  one  ?  And 
how  will  a  faith  that  consists  simply  in  assent  to  ex- 
cellent propositions  or  truths,  without  passing  over 
into  kindred  action,  profit  any  one  a  whit  the  more? 
Such  faith,  in  its  barren  isolation,  is  a  dead  thing. 
It  is  no  matter  of  alternatives.  The  question  is  not 
whether  "  faith  "  or  "  works  "  alone  can  save,  but 
whether  an  unfruitful  or  dead  faith  is  worthy  the 
name  at  all.  And  the  only  way  in  which  faith  can 
be  proved  to  be  living,  that  is  religious  faith,  is  in 
manifesting  its  life  by  action.1  No  man,  in  fact,  can 
show  his  faith  save  by  works.  To  assent  to  the 
creed,  "there  is  one  God,"  carries  of  itself  no  assur- 
ance of  salvation.  For  it  is  a  belief  shared  by 
demons,  to  whom  it  brings  not  comfort  but  shudder- 
ing horror.  Faith  divorced  from  works  is  barren. 
Not  such  was  Abraham's  faith ;  not  such  even  Ra- 
hab's.  In  each,  belief  in  the  promises  of  God  im- 
pelled to  deeds,  and  thereby  attained  its  full  realiza- 
tion or  perfection.  So  then,  "just  as  the  body  de- 
void of  breath  is  dead,  even  so  faith  devoid  of  deeds 
is  dead  also." 

It  is  strange  that  any  should  see  in  this  line  of 
thought  a  criticism  of  the  Pauline  doctrine  of  faith 
in  one  form  or  another.  Not  only  is  there  no  hint 
of  anything  connected  with  Christ  or  His  Work  in 

1 "  Even  so  let  your  light  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see 
your  good  works  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven," 
Matt.  v.  16  ;  cf.  13  ff. 


Essential  Agreement  between  James  and  Paul.    243 

the  faith  in  question:  but  the  final  simile  alone,  if 
duly  heeded,  should  have  made  the  idea  impossible. 
For  here  faith  is  represented  not  as  something  inner 
or  emotional,  a  state  of  soul,  however  ephemeral — in 
a  word,  as  something  only  too  subjective ;  but  as 
something  rigid  and  inertly  objective,  needing  above 
all  things  a  little  soul  to  make  it  count  for  anything 
among  forces  that  live  and  move.  Could  Pauline 
"  Solifidianism "  be,  by  any  stretch  of  caricature, 
mistaken  for  such  unemotional,  impersonal  ortho- 
doxy— a  dead  "  body  "  of  divinity,  as  it  were  ?  Reli- 
ance upon  such,  "  the  faith,"  stands  at  the  opposite 
pole  of  religious  experience  from  Pauline  Anti-no- 
mianism,  and  is  the  worst  anti-nomianism  of  all.  It 
is  the  apotheosis  of  a  theology  "once  for  all  commit- 
ted" to  the  intellect,  the  abuse  of  rigid  objectivity, 
not  of  free  subjectivity.  Its  true  historical  signifi- 
cance lies  in  the  proof  it  affords  of  the  deep  root  which 
the  moral  side  of  Pharisaism,  as  religious  externalism 
devoid  of  moral  content,  had  struck  in  the  soil  of 
Judaism  not  only  in  Palestine  but  also  among  the 
Diaspora  outside.  It  is  exactly  this  phenomenon 
that  Paul  has  in  mind  in  Romans  ii.-iii.,1  when  argu- 
ing against  the  salvation  of  Jews  more  or  less  as 
matter  of  course,  all  because  they  had  already  a 
higher    knowledge    of    things   divine    within    their 

1  "If  thou  bearest  the  name  of  Jew,  and  restest  upon  Law,  and 
gloriest  in  God,  and  knowest  the  Will,  and  approvest  thiugs  excel- 
lent, being  instructed  out  of  the  Law,  and  art  confident  that  thou 
thyself  art  a  guide  of  the  blind  .  .  .  a  schoolmaster  of  dullards 
.  .  .  having  in  the  Law  the  outline  form  of  knowledge  and 
of  the  truth;  thou,  then,  that  teachest  another,  teachest  thou  not 
thyself? 


244  The  Apostolic  Age. 


reach,  in  the  glorious  Thorah.  Paul  and  James 
agree  in  insisting,  each  in  his  own  way,  that  "  not 
the  hearer  of  a  Law  but  the  doer  is  justified";  that 
the  faith,  whether  of  Judaism  or  of  its  Messiah, 
serves  but  as  an  enhanced  standard  of  Judgment, 
apart  from  a  living  faith  which  unites  to  God  and 
must  work  of  love's  necessity. 

The  same  lesson,  the  need  of  moral  fruitage  ac- 
cordant to  profession,  is  next  enforced  on  those  who 
by  undertaking  the  higher  responsibilities,  as  teach- 
ers of  others,  become  liable  to  the  severer  standard 
of  judgment.  The  ambition  to  enjoy  the  status  of  a 
Rabbi  was  native  to  the  Jew.  The  sense  of  self-im- 
portance which  it  brought,  the  deferential  "  saluta- 
tions in  the  market-places,"  these  as  well  as  its 
more  legitimate  ambitions  made  men  anxious  to  be- 
come Rabbis.  The  emphasis  with  which  Christ's 
warnings  to  shun  all  titles  of  distinction  are  recorded 
in  the  Gospels,  is  ample  witness  that  they  were  felt 
to  be  needed  in  the  later  days  when  the  tradition  of 
His  Words  was  taking  shape  by  a  process  of  natural 
selection.  James  knew  that  there  was  a  divine  gift 
(eharism)  of  special  wisdom  entrusted  to  some  for 
the  good  of  all.  But  he  saw  that  much  "  teaching  " 
was  due,  not  to  this,  but  to  the  self-assertive  impulse, 
the  desire  to  rank  among  the  Wise, '  a  recognized 
order    in  later  Judaism.     And  so  he  dissuades  too 

1  Jas.  iii.  13,  echoes  the  very  phrase  of  Matt.  xi.  25.  The  bet- 
ter  sense  of  the  term,  as  represented  among  Christ's  followers, 
appears  in  Matt,  xxiii.  34,  "prophets,  and  wise  men,  and  scribes." 
Abtalion,  a  great  Eabbi  two  generations  before  James'  day,  is 
credited  with  saying:  "Ye  Wise,  be  guarded  in  your  words;  per- 
chance ye  may  incur  the  debt  of  exile  (judgment)." 


James}  Emphasis  on  Private  Ministry.       245 

ready  entrance  upon  what  was  a  very  slippery  path. 
For  observation  of  the  native  failings  of  his  race  and 
age  had  convinced  him  that  the  tongue  was  the 
hardest  member  of  all  to  tame.  He  who  had  here 
obtained  the  mastery  was  not  likely  to  be  caught 
tripping  elsewhere  (Ecclus.  v.  13).  He  was  a  per- 
fected character,  a  true  saint.  It  was  to  James  shock- 
ing that  the  same  member  should  express,  now  hate 
to  man,  and  now  love  to  God,  the  Father  of  all.  It 
violated  a  fundamental  law  of  nature  and  of  Grace : 
like  root,  like  fruit.  '  So  jealousy  and  party-spirit 
robbed  a  teacher's  "  wisdom  "  of  all  right  to  be  traced 
to  a  heavenly  origin.  It  was  from  below,  the  sphere 
of  animal  passion  and  demonic  self-love,  and  could 
breed  only  what  was  bad.  For  "  the  wisdom  that  is 
from  above  is  first  pure  (single-hearted),  then  peace- 
able, gently  reasonable,  open  to  persuasion,  full  of 
mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiality,  without 
hypocrisy.  And  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  sown 
in  peace  for  them  that  make  peace."  Let,  then,  the 
truly  "  wise  and  prudent "  man  show  by  "  the  fair 
flower  of  a  blameless  life  "  that  his  is  the  meek-eyed 
wisdom 2  that  is  of  God. 

James  sees  to  the  full  the  dangers  involved  in  the 
office  of  a  public  teacher,  and  discourages  the  many 
from  attempting  it.  On  the  other  hand,  nowhere 
else  even  in  the  New  Testament  do  we  find  a  wider 
private  or  fraternal  ministry,  and  that  of  the  most 

'The  parallelism  of  Jas.  iii.  11,  12,  and  Matt.  vii.  16,  Luke  vi. 
44,  is  very  marked. 

*  James  exactly  catches  the  spirit  of  Christ's  "little  child"  as 
type  of  the  Christian  temper  (Matt,  xviii.  1-4). 


24G  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

spiritual  order,  commended  to  all  believers  as  such. 
The  brethren  are  referred  to  each  other's  love  for 
the  unbosoming  of  the  sins  that  lie  heavy  on  the  con- 
science :  and  the  sovereign  remedy  suggested  in  such 
cases  is  the  intercessory  prayer  of  brother  fur  brother. 
Apparently  the  sins  specially  contemplated  are  those 
assumed  to  lie  at  the  root  of  chastening  sickness.  For 
there  follows  specific  provision  for  the  sick,  who  are 
entitled  to  call  to  their  bedside  "  the  elders  of  the 
Church,"  for  healing  treatment  and  prayer  with  a 
view  to  healing  of  body  and  soul  (if  the  latter  be  in- 
volved) at  the  Lord's  hands  ; l  and  the  object  of  the 
less  formal  prayer  of  brethren  for  each  other  is  also 
described  by  the  words,  "  that  ye  may  be  healed." 
We  have  already  seen  how  James  deprecates  other 
abuses  of  the  tongue.  But  we  are  startled  by  the  em- 
phasis with  which  he  forbids  swearing  as  tending  to 
sap  the  habit  of  perfect  sincerity  in  speech.  "  But 
above  all  things,  my  brethren,"  he  pleads,  "swear 
not,  neither  by  heaven,  nor  by  earth,  nor  by  any 
other  oath :  but  let  your  Yea  be  Yea,  and  your  Nay, 
Nay;  lest  ye  incur  judgment."  The  emphasis  not 
only  of  the  Gospels  but  also  of  Essenism  is  the  same ; 
and  in  these  early  days  there  was  a  constant  tend- 
ency, whenever  discipleship  began  to  fail  in  freshness, 

1  The  whole  passage  is  well  illustrated  by  Ecclus.  xxxviii.  9-15  : 
"My  son,  in  thy  sickness  be  not  negligent;  but  pray  unto  the 
Lord,  and  He  shall  heal  thee.  Put  away  wrongdoing,  and  order 
thine  hands  aright,  and  cleanse  thy  heart  from  all  manner  of  sin. 
.  .  Then  give  place  to  the  physician,  for  verily  the  Lord 
hath  created  him.  .  .  .  For  they  (physicians)  also  shall  be- 
seech the  Lord,  that  He  may  prosper  them  in  relief  and  in  heal- 
ing." 


James  Imbued  with  the  Master's  Personality.    217 


to  relapse  into  the  glib  use  of  sacred  asseverations 
that  marked  current  Judaism,  as  it  marks  Syria  to- 
day. 

In  looking  back,  then,  on  the  tone  and  tenor  of 
the  Epistle  as  already  analyzed,  one  cannot  but  be 
struck  by  the  wonderful  fulness  with  which  it  echoes 
"the  meekness  and  gentle  reasonableness  of  the 
Christ,"  the  chief  aspect  in  which  even  Paul  sets 
Him  before  his  converts  for  imitation.  This  seems 
to  have  been  the  aspect  of  Jesus  the  Messiah  which 
left  the  deepest  impress  on  the  imagination  of  the 
inner  Apostolic  circle.  And  the  completeness  with 
which  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  possesses  James'  whole 
being  should  only  become  the  more  impressive  to  us, 
that  he  says  so  little  about  Him  in  His  official  aspect 
as  the  Messiah.  We  feel  that  he  has  his  eye  ever 
on  his  Holy  Brother  as  he  writes,  even  though  he  so 
strangely  refrains  from  clinching  the  force  of  any 
one  of  his  exhortations  with  a  pointed  reference — 
such  as  we  have  in  Peter  and  Paul,  as  also  in  Hebreivs 
—to  the  Perfect  Exemplar,  from  whom  he  himself 
has  learned  the  secret  how  to  attain.  It  is  surely  a 
mistake  to  represent  the  writer  of  this  Epistle  as  show- 
ing "no  trace  of  the  influence  of  the  Master's  wonder- 
ful personality."  He  shows  every  trace  of  that  per- 
sonality, as  a  personality  moulding  and  fashioning 
his  ideals.  To  put  it  broadly  :  Christ  is  nowhere  ex- 
plicitly, but  He  is  everywhere  implicitly.  He  is  the 
atmosphere  of  the  writer's  mind,  and  determines  his 
idea  of  the  Law.  And  so  he  gives  us  not  teaching 
about  Christ,  but  rather  Christ's  teaching.  His 
silence  as  to  the  source  of  his  own  inspiration  is 


248  The  Apostolic  Age. 

largely  explained  by  the  circle  of  readers  or  rather 
hearers  contemplated,  which  embraced  non-believing 
Jews.  But,  whatever  its  cause,  it  does  not  really 
affect  the  question  of  authorship.  Our  author's  piety 
belongs  at  once  to  the  Old  and  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment; is  that  of  a  man  who  had  approached  the 
Gospel  from  the  side  of  Judaism  that  lay  nearest  to 
it.  For  that  very  reason  he  had  (unlike  Saul)  ex- 
perienced little  or  no  disillusioning,  but  only  a  bright- 
ening to  the  perfect  day  ;  and  had  realized  no  need 
to  detach  himself  from  Jewish  forms  of  thought  and 
speech.  The  Gospel  was  the  Law  sublimated  into  a 
"  Law  of  Liberty."  It  was  conceived  as  applied  Love, 
whether  to  a  Fatherly  God  or  to  all  men,  as  "  made 
after  the  likeness  of  God."  Hence  the  Law  is  at  once 
Jewish  and  Christian,  and  could  be  enforced  on  both 
alike,  with  no  attempt  to  differentiate  the  two  in 
the  appeal  made.  The  writer  has  the  ideal  Law  in 
view  and  it  only.  And  so  the  search  after  "dis- 
tinctive "  Christian  notes  in  his  epistle  is  misplaced. 
The  "dutiful  life"  (ewoftos  /?tWc?j  of  Ecclesiasticus, 
the  life  of  chastened  wisdom,  was  the  ideal  alike  of 
the  Gospel  and  of  Judaism  at  its  best :  and  the  Law 
of  God's  will  was  the  means  to  that  end.1 

Just  such  a  man  was  James,  the  Lord's  brother, 
as  we  have  every  right  to  imagine  him.  Not  his  the 
Jesuit  spirit  of  rigid  code ;  nor  even  the  Domini- 
can, with  its  undue  reliance  on  the  Credo  of  ortho- 
doxy ;  but  rather  that  of  the  Saint  of  Assisi,  with 
his  humane  regard  for  man  as  brother  by  nature,  a 

1  "For  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  wisdom  and  instruction  (natdeca)  : 
and  in  faith  and  meekness  is  His  good  pleasure,"  Ecclus.  i.  27. 


Analogies  to  James*  Piety.  249 

"nature"  that  has  ever  in  it  the  hand  of  God.  In- 
deed a  modern  mind  could  hardly  realize  to  itself 
James'  ideal  of  the  religious  man  more  truly  and 
vividly,  than  by  thinking  of  the  genuine  image  of  the 
great  Poverello,  as  it  disengages  itself,  under  the 
hands  of  a  Sabatier,  from  legendary  mists,  and  stands 
out  convincing  in  its  bold  realism  and  winsome  in  its 
loving  unworldliness.  The  parallel  is  not  only  sug- 
gestive ;  it  is  also  illuminative.  For  as  we  feel  how 
little  the  artificial  forms  of  the  mediaeval  religious 
manner  could  fetter  the  love  of  the  original  Francis- 
can "religion,"  we  perceive  how  little  it  matters  to 
the  religion  of  James,  Saint  of  the  Lowly,  that  it  wore 
the  garb  of  Nazirite  purity  in  the  middle  of  the  first 
century.  Yet  James  was  capable  also  of  fulminating 
against  proud  sin  like  a  very  Savonarola,  in  the  spirit 
and  power  of  the  older  prophecy.  And  as  the  proph- 
ets had  generally  cast  their  glance  to  the  Day  of  the 
Lord,  that  great  unveiling  of  all  now  obscure,  that 
final  redressing  of  all  the  anomalies  of  earth — a  man- 
ner of  thought  that  came  home  also  to  Savonarola  in 
his  age  of  anomalies — so  James  too,  ere  he  ends, 
says  his  word  on  this  solemn  subject,  never  absent 
from  the  thoughts  of  the  first  Christian  generation. 
His  object  in  introducing  it  is  a  practical  one.  As 
the  patient  husbandman  is  content  to  wait  for  his 
harvest-home  until  the  appointed  intervening  sea- 
sons have  done  their  work;  so  must  the  Christian 
exercise  long-suffering  patience.  But  let  him  brace 
his  heart  with  the  thought  that  his  Lord's  Coming 
is  now  quite  nigh.  "  The  Judge  is  standing  before 
the  doors."     And  let  this  thought  also  still  all  mur- 


250  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

mur  against  the  happier  lot  of  certain  brethren.  As 
models  of  the  spirit  of  patience  under  suffering,  let 
them  take  the  Prophets  and  the  much-enduring  Job. 
In  these  examples,  and  indeed  in  his  whole  handling 
of  the  subject,  it  is  striking  how  James  for  the  first 
time  fails  to  recall  the  relevant  passages  in  the  Gos- 
pels, but  merely  presupposes  the  general  notion  of 
an  imminent  Parousia,  arid  this  on  lines  continuous 
with  the  Prophets  rather  than  the  Evangelists. 

(d)     The  Syrian  "  Two  Ways." 

We  have  made  so  close  a  study  of  James'  epistle 
because  it  is  the  keystone  of  our  interpretation  of 
Jewish  Christianity  anterior  to  the  fall  of  the  Jewish 
State.  The  word  keystone  is  used  advisedly.  For 
this  epistle  is  too  obscure  in  its  original  relations  to 
be  a  fit  basis  for  historic  construction.  But  if  it  fits 
into  such  a  construction,  raised  in  relative  independ- 
ence, it  adds  strength  and  symmetry  to  the  whole. 
And  we  hope  now  to  be  able  to  exhibit  the  coher- 
ence between  this  epistle  and  certain  other  Judseo- 
Christian  writings,  in  such  a  way  as  to  justify  the 
view  taken  of  it  and  of  Judseo-Christianity  prior  to 
the  death  of  James.  The  chief  writings  in  question 
are,  the  older  parts  of  the  so-called  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  recovered  and  published  some  fifteen 
years  ago  by  Bryennios,  a  learned  Greek  ecclesi- 
astic ;  certain  secondary  elements  in  the  Synoptic 
Gospels — that  is,  features  due  to  the  conditions  and 
ideals  of  the  Christian  circles  in  which  the  traditions 
of  Christ's  earthly  ministry  took  their  present  shapes  ; 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  on  that  side  of  it  which 


Coherence  of  James1  Epistle  and  the  Didache.    251 

reflects  the  readers'  ideas  and  usages,  rather  than 
what  is  more  personal  to  the  writer ;  and,  finally, 
the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  written  from  Rome 
shortly  before  the  Neronian  outbreak  of  64  A.  D. 
Nor  in  using  these  documents  need  we  be  much 
hampered  by  the  feeling  that  their  exact  dates  are 
open  to  some  doubt.  For  the  wonderful  fixity  of 
type  in  Oriental  life  and  society  enables  us  to  bring 
them  together  with  but  little  hesitation,  once  we  are 
satisfied  that  they  represent  much  the  same  type  of 
Christianity. 

We   begin,   then,   with    the    older  parts   of  the 
"  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,"  usually  called 
the  Didache.1     It  opens  thus : 

"There  are  two  "Ways,  one  of  Life,  and  one  of  Death;  and 
there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  two  ways.  The  Way  of 
Life  is  this:  Firstly,  thou  shalt  love  the  God  that  made  thee. 
Secondly,  thy  neighbor  as  thyself:  and  all  things  whatsoever  thou 
wouldest  not  have  happen  to  thyself,  neither  do  thou  to  another. 
Now  of  these  sayings  the  explanatory  Teaching  {Didache)  is  as 
follows." 

We  need  go  no  further  to  gather  one  or  two 
things  of  some  importance.  It  is  highly  Jewish  in 
phraseology  and  idea.  The  image  of  life  as  a  Way 
is  indeed  world-wide,  being  found  in  the  Chinese  Clas- 
sics as  well  as  in  Greek  writers.  But  it  was  specially 
dear  to  both  the  earlier  and  later  Judaism  ;  appears 
in  the  Gospels ;  and  was  evidently  a  favorite  title 
for  their  new  life  among  the  early  Jewish  Chris- 
tians.2    Here  it  has  its  fullest  elaboration,  by  the 

1  The  intricate  literary  problems  of  the  DidachS  are  discussed  in 
the  Literary  Appendix. 

2  Acts  ix.  2,  xviii.  25  f.,  xix.  9,  23,  xxii.  4,  xxiv.  14,  22. 


252  The  Apostolic  Age. 

aid  of  materials  scattered  in  almost  every  part  of 
Jewish  literature.  Yet  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
a  purely  Jewish  "  Two  Ways,"  in  anything  like  the 
present  Christian  form,  ever  existed.1  It  could 
hardly  have  failed  to  leave  some  distinct  trace  in 
Jewish  quarters.  And  when  we  bear  in  mind  the 
way  in  which  the  epistle  of  James  is  studded  with 
expressions  borrowed  from  Jewish  wisdom-literature 
or  current  maxims,  we  see  no  reason  to  believe  that 
our  "Two  Ways"  was  other  than  Christian  in 
origin.  Jewish  precedents  in  idea  it  may  have  had, 
such  as  the  "  Sayings  of  Ahikar,"2  and  Tobit  iv :  but 
beyond  this  we  need  not  go.  On  the  other  hand  its 
highly  Jewish  tone  is  shown  in  the  reference  to  God 
as  Creator,3  rather  than  Father  in  the  full  Christian 
sense,  even  when  He  is  set  forth  as  the  supreme  object 
of  love.  This  again  recalls  the  epistle  of  James  where 
the  idea  of  Fatherhood  hardly  reaches  the  Christian 
level  of  intimate  personal  relationship,  found  for  in- 
stance in  St.  Paul.  And  the  reason  is  the  same  in 
both  cases,  namely  lack  of  a  deeper  sense  of  the  Son- 
ship  realized  in  Jesus  Christ.  In  another  respect 
the  Two   Ways  is  yet  more  Jewish.     Unlike  James, 

1  This  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  while  we  have  in  the  (Al- 
exandrine) Secrets  of  Enoch  (before  50  A.  D.)  the  idea  of  the  Two 
Ways,  of  Light  and  of  Darkness  (xxx.  15,),  also  a  description  of 
the  Blessed  and  Cursed  Life  from  the  mouth  of  Enoch  to  his  chil- 
dren (l.-lii.),  yet  there  is  no  real  verbal  parallelism. 

2  The  first  modern  edition  of  these  has  just  been  published  by 
Dr.  Rendel  Harris  and  others. 

3  See  Ecclus.  vii.  30,  "With  all  thy  strength  love  Him  that 
made  thee."  The  Epistle  of  "Barnabas,"  which  incorporates 
the  bulk  of  the  "Two  Ways,"  feels  this  lack  and  adds,  "thou 
shalt  glorify  Him  that  redeemed  thee  from  death." 


The  Negative    4  Golden  Rule.1  253 

it  fails  to  realize  something  of  the  very  spirit  of 
Christly  piety.  For  it  is  content  to  add,  as  a  para- 
phrase of  the  second  Great  Precept,  the  Golden  rule 
in  its  old  Jewish  and  negative  form,1  which  falls  far 
short  of  what  is  in  a  heart  of  love.  In  substantially 
the  same  negative  form  it  occurs  in  a  saying  of 
Hillel,  the  gentle  Rabbi  who  lived  just  before  the 
Christian  era ;  who,  in  reply  to  a  would-be  prose- 
lyte's demand  to  be  taught  the  whole  Thorah  whilst 
standing  on  one  foot,  said :  "  What  is  hateful  to 
thyself  do  not  to  thy  fellow ; 2  this  is  the  whole 
Thorah,  and  the  rest  is  commentary  :  go,  study." 
And  this  parallel  is  the  more  worth  quoting,  that  it 
illustrates  also  the  remaining  Jewish  trait,  namely 
the  idea  of  a  "  Teaching  "  or  commentary  unfolding 
the  full  content  of  brief  sacred  oracles. 

And  so  we  pass  to  the  "  Teaching  "  proper  as  to 
the  "  Two  Ways."  In  the  earliest  traceable  edition 
(for  it  underwent  several  recensions  to  keep  abreast 
with  the  developing  ethical  ideal  of  Syrian  Chris- 

1  In  this,  as  in  its  general  conceptioD,  it  seems  influenced  by  the 
address  of  Tobit  to  his  son  Tobias,  the  bulk  of  which  (iv.  7-19  a) 
is  actually  absent  from  one  of  our  oldest  MSS.  (Cod.  Sin.) — a  fact 
which  suggests  that  it  is  in  origin  later  than  the  book  as  a  whole 
and  so  more  nearly  reflects  first  century  Judaism. 

*It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  Jewish  form  occurs  in  two 
recensions  in  Greek,  marked  by  "  hatest  "(fitaeis)  and  "  would- 
est  not  "  (ou  Oi/lets).  The  former  is  probably  the  more  literal 
(so  Tobit  iv.  15,  Hillel)  and  reappears  in  several  early  Christian 
writings  (Apost.  Const,  i.  1,  Apology  of  Aristides  (Syriac  form)  c. 
15,  Clem.  Horn.  bis).  The  latter,  our  form,  recurs  only  as  an  in- 
terpolation in  Codex  Bezse  of  Acts  xv.  20  (29),  supported  by  the 
Latin  of  Irenaeus,  /cai  oaa  uv  fxrt  dilioatv  aural-;  yeviadau  iripolt; 
fii]  izoie'iv.  In  one  form  or  another  it  seems  to  have  been  very 
popular  in  Syria. 


254  The  Apostolic  Age. 

tianity),  it  proceeds  straight  to  a  list  of  concrete 
prohibitions  involved  in  walking  the  Way  of  Life 
(ii.  2-iii.  6).  These  give  us  a  glimpse  into  the  be- 
setting sins  of  the  age  and  country  (probably  North 
Syria,  including  Antioch).  It  is  a  dark  and  often 
shocking  picture  that  we  are  led  to  form  of  the 
temper  and  practices  of  society  around.  On  the 
other  hand  the  ideal  of  the  Judaso-Christian  con- 
science stands  forth  on  this  dark  background  in  a 
striking  way.  There  is  indeed  a  certain  rudimen- 
tariness  about  it  all,  especially  as  to  the  motives  ad- 
duced (e.  g.j  in  the  frequent  reference  to  some  wrong 
feeling  as  leading  to  a  worse  action),  a  certain  inter- 
ested notion  of  morality,  and  a  semi-legal  conception 
of  Salvation.  Yet  the  general  impression  is  a  pleas- 
ing one  in  virtue  of  the  simple,  humble,  downright 
type  of  piety,  which  is  singularly  akin  to  James'  in 
the  points  selected  for  emphasis.  Here  are  some 
typical  sentences. 

"Thou  shalt  'do  no  murder,  thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,' 
thou  shalt  not  commit  fornication,  'steal,'  deal  in  magic  or  sor- 
cery, procure  abortion,  or  kill  the  new-born.  'Thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbor's  goods  '  :  '  thou  shalt  not  perjure  '  thyself,' 
'bear  false  witness,'  'slander,'  or  'bear  a  grudge.'  'Thou  shalt 
not  be  deceitful  or  double-tongued '  (Ecclus.  v.  9,  14) ;  for  the 
double  tongue  is  a  snare  of  death.  '  Thy  speech  shall  not  be 
false '  or  empty,  but  filled  full  with  deed.  '  Thou  shalt  not  be 
greedy  or  rapacious  '  or  a  hypocrite  or  malicious  or  'overbearing.' 
'  Thou  shalt  not  take  evil  counsel  against  thy  neighbor '  (Prov. 


'Here  Lev.  xix.  11-18  begins  to  blend  with  Ex.  xx.  13-17, 
from  which  some  of  the  former  phrases  are  taken.  Those  thatecho 
kuown  biblical  or  apocryphal  sayings  are  indicated  by  inverted 
commas. 


The  Rule  of  Love.  255 

iii.  29).  'Thou  sbalt  not  hate  '  any  man  ;  but  some  '  thou  shalt 
rebuke,'  for  others  thou  shalt  pray,  and  others  '  thou  shalt  love  ' 
more  than  thy  life." 

Here  our  manual  collects  the  chief  Old  Testament 
passages  that  treat  of  right  conduct  toward  one's 
neighbor,  adding  some  fresh  applications  suggested 
by  pagan  habits  not  contemplated  in  the  Mosaic  Law. 
And  the  sum  of  the  matter  is  a  rule  of  Love  as  con- 
ditioned by  the  neighbor's  state.  It  then  proceeds 
to  points  where  Old  Testament  precedent  is  less 
plentiful. 

"  My  child,1  flee  from  every  evil  and  from  all  that  is  like  unto  it. 
Be  not  wrathful,  for  wrath  leadeth  to  murder:  nor  jealous  nor 
contentious  nor  passionate,  for  from  all  of  these  murders  are  en- 
gendered." And  so  on  with  lust,  filthy  talk  and  leering;  divina- 
tion and  the  black  arts  (as  akin  to  idolatry) ;  lying,  avarice,  vain- 
glory— "since  these  all  lead  to  theft;"  grumbling,  self-will,  evil- 
mindedness  (all  fruitful  parents  of  blasphemies).  Rather  let  the 
convert  be  meek,  "since  the  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth" 
(Ps.  xxxvii.  11);  likewise  "long-suffering,  pitiful,  guileless, 
quiet,  kindly,  ever  trembling  at  the  words  which  thou  hast  heard 
(Is.  Ixvi.  2,  5).  Thou  shalt  not  exalt  thyself,  neither  shalt  thou 
admit  boldness  into  thy  soul.  Thy  soul  shalt  not  cleave  to  the 
lofty,  but  with  the  just  and  humble  shalt  thou  consort.  The 
workings  (of  Providence)  that  befall  thee  thou  sbalt  accept2  as 
good,  knowing  that  apart  from  God  naught  occurs." 

This  ideal  of  meek,  uncomplaining,  resigned  piety, 
is  exactly  that  seen  in  James  (as  also  in  the  Es- 
senes)  ;  and  is  here  clearly  the  persistence  of  an  old 
Jewish  type,  practically  unchanged,  in  the  Jewish- 
Christian  circle  represented.     For  there  is  so  far  no 

1  Here  we  have  a  hint  that  the  original  Two  Ways  was  not  put 
into  the  mouth  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  but  came  as  the  counsel 
of  the  "  Wise  man,"  after  the  manner  of  Proverbs. 

2Ecclus.  ii.  4,  "  Accept  whatsoever  is  brought  upon  thee." 


256  The  Apostolic  Age. 

trace  of  dependence  upon  purely  New  Testament 
words.  There  are  perhaps  some  minds  to  whom 
such  piety,  whether  in  James  or  in  the  Two  Ways, 
may  seem  meagre  and  Judaic.  It  is  true  that  it 
draws,  or  at  least  seems  to  draw,  but  little  of  its  in- 
spiration from  the  more  Evangelic  motives  so  richly 
set  forth  in  certain  parts  of  the  New  Testament — 
the  Christ  element,  to  sum  it  up  in  a  phrase.  But 
it  is  only  slowly  that  we  realize  how  different  from 
Paulinism — the  only  form  of  this  more  inner  and 
mystical  faith  traceable  at  the  time  in  question,  i.  e., 
prior  to  62  A.  D. — was  Judseo-Christian  faith,  and 
for  that  matter  average  Gentile  faith  likewise.  As 
we  shall  see  later,  Paulinism  as  an  experience  lived 
only  within  the  circle  of  his  more  immediate  friends. 
And  we  should  be  thankful  to  note  that  even  where 
the  theological  consciousness  was  so  disparate,  the 
piety  was  so  alike  in  tone  and  quality. 

Our  Manual  continues  (ch.  iv.) : 

"  My  child,  thou  shalt  remember  day  and  night  him  that  speak- 
eth  unto  thee  the  word  of  God,  and  shalt  honor  him  as  the  Lord  : 
for  where  the  Lordship  is  the  speaker's  theme,  there  is  the  Lord.1 
Moreover  thou  shalt  seek  out  day  by  day  the  persons  of  the  Saints 
(cf.  Ecclus.  vi.  33-36,  viii.  8  f.),  that  thou  mayest  rest  upon  their 
words  (cf.  Rom.  ii.  17).  Thou  shalt  not  make  a  division,  but 
shalt  make  peace  between  such  as  are  at  strife  :  thou  shalt  judge 
justly,  thou  shalt  not  show  respect  of  persons  in  rebuking  for 
transgressions  (Lev.  xix.  15).  Thou  shalt  not  be  of  two  minds, 
whether  it  shall  be  or  not  be.*     "  Be  not  found  holding  forth  thy 

'Compare  the  Rabbinic  maxim:  "Where  Thorah  is  studied, 
there  is  the  Shekinah." 

8 To  judge  from  Ecclus.  vii.  10,  "Be  not  faint-hearted  in  thy 
prayer  ;  and  neglect  not  to  give  alms,"  this  goes  closely  with  what 
follows,  enjoining  faith  in  God  as  "  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  Him  "  (Heb.  xi.  6) :  cf.  Hermas,  Vis.  iii.  4. 


The  Way  of  Death  a  Catalogue  of  Vices.     257 

bauds  to  receive,  but  drawing  tbem  in  as  to  giving  (Ecclus.  iv.  31, 
vii.  32).  If  tbou  bast  it  in  baud,  tbou  sbalt  give  ransom  for  tby 
sins.1  Tbou  sbaJt  not  besitate  to  give,  neither  sbalt  tbou  grum- 
ble when  giving  (Tobit  iv.  7,  16)  ;  for  thou  sbalt  recognize  who  is 
the  good  Eecompenser  of  the  reward  (Ecclus.  xii.  1-3,  Tobit 
iv.  14,  Psalm  Sol.  ix.  6  ff.).  Tbou  sbalt  not  turn  away  from  him 
that  lacketh  (Ecclus.  iv.  4),  but  sbalt  make  thy  brother  fellow- 
sharer  in  all  tilings,  and  sbalt  not  say  that  they  are  thine  own  (cf. 
Acts  iv.  32).  For  if  ye  are  co-sharers  in  that  which  is  immortal, 
how  much  more  in  things  perishable?  Thou  sbalt  not  withhold 
thy  baud  from  tby  son  or  from  thy  daughter,  but  from  their 
youth  sbalt  teach  them  the  fear  of  God.  Thou  shalt  not  command 
thy  bondservant  or  handmaid  (cf.  Ecclus.  vii.  20) — those  that 
hope  in  the  same  God — in  thy  bitterness  ;  lest  haply  they  cease 
to  fear  the  God  who  is  over  both  of  you.  For  He  cometh  not  to 
call  (men)  with  respect  of  persons,  but  for  those  prepared  by  the 
Spirit.2  But  ye,  servants,  shall  be  subject  to  your  masters,  aa 
to  a  figure  of  God,  in  modesty  and  fear.  Thou  shalt  hate  all  hy- 
pocrisy aud  everything  that  is  not  pleasing  to  the  Lord.  Thou 
shalt  not  forsake  the  Lord's  Precepts,3  but  shalt  keep  what  thou 
hast  received,  neither  adding  nor  taking  away.  In  church  thon 
sbalt  confess  thy  transgressions  and  shalt  not  betake  thyself  to 
thy  prayer  with  an  evil  conscience.     Such  is  the  Way  of  Life." 

Touching  the  Way  of  Death,  one  need  only  say 
that  it  is  the  exact  opposite  of  the  foregoing.     It  is 

Sentiments  found  partly  in  Prov.  iii.  27  f . ;  Ecclus.  iv.  3; 
partly  in  Ecclus.  iii.  30,  cf.  iii.  3  ;  Tobit  iv.  10  f.,  xii.  8  f.,  xiv.  11. 

2  Here  the  tense  "  cometh  "  (k'p/erac,  changed  in  Barn.  xix.  7  to 
rjXOzv)  shows  that  the  reference  is  to  the  Day  of  the  Lord,  of  Joel 
ii.  28-32,  taken  in  a  more  purely  future  sense  than  in  the  first 
Christian  sermon  by  Peter  (Acts  ii.  17-21,  39),  that  is  on  more 
purely  Old  Testament  lines.  Believers  in  Messiah  are  "  hoping 
in  God  "  for  a  speedy  Parousia,  at  which  the  divine  call,  already 
given  in  the  "pouring  out  "  of  the  Spirit  on  believers,  shall  take 
full  effect  in  a  final  call  of  the  "  prepared  "  unto  the  marriage- 
supper  of  His  Beloved  aud  the  manifested  Kingdom  of  God  (cf.  x. 
5  aud  the  idea  of  the  wedding  garment,  Matt.  xxii.  10-12). 

3Tbe  phrase  here  (ivroXd?  Kopioo  simply)  suggests,  not  the 
"  Two  ways,"  but  oral  catechism  in  Christ's  sayings. 


258  The  Apostolic  Age. 


far  briefer,  a  mere  catalogue  of  vices  and  vicious 
types  of  men.  Yet  one  or  two  points  in  the  writer's 
ideal  come  out  yet  more  clearly  by  repetition.  Those 
are  on  the  way  to  Death  who  are  "  far  from  meekness 
and  patience,"  "  not  pitying  the  poor,"  and,  while  in 
general  keen  for  gain,  blind  to  the  "  reward  of  right- 
eousness." Hence  they  are  "advocates  of  the  rich, 
unjust  judges  of  the  poor."  In  a  word,  they  "re- 
cognize not  Him  that  made  them." 

As  we  look  back  at  the  type  of  piety 1  that  inspires 
the  Two  Ways,  we  cannot  but  feel  its  wonderful  af- 
finity to  that  embodied  in  the  Epistle  of  James.  And 
this  extends,  as  we  have  just  seen,  to  the  absence  in 
either  case  of  all  stress  on  Redemption  as  a  pres- 
ent fact.  The  Creator  has  given  man  a  nature  fit 
for  obedience  in  love:  He  has  revealed  a  Law  or 
Way  of  Life  :  He  has  vouchsafed  the  Spirit  (the  one 
clear  Messianic  or  redemptive  touch,  so  far)  and  the 
fellowship  of  "  the  brethren  "  or  "  the  saints,"  sever- 
ally or  "in  meeting"  (<n>vaywvrj  or  iux^frca).  But  the 
great  redemptive  moment  and  act  are  future,  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  to  consummate  His  call.  For 
this  they  are  waiting  "  in  patience  "  :  all  between  the 
first  and  the  final  call  seems  but  an  episode,  and  the 
reason  for  such  delay  as  has  already  taken  place  far 
from  clear.  This  last  feature  is  quite  explicit  in 
James  ;  and  if  the  Two  Ways  originally  contained  no 

1  la  order  to  complete  the  picture,  much  of  the  second  part  of  the 
Didache  (e.  g.,  the  Eucharistic  Prayers,  and  the  account  of  itiner- 
ant teachers  and  brethren)  should  be  taken  into  account.  For 
though  its  present  literary  form  belongs  to  the  Transition  Period 
(62-70),  yet  the  ideas  and  usages  implied  go  far  back  into  the 
first  generation. 


Internal  Evidence  of  an    Early    Date.        259 


more  than  has  been  quoted  above,  we  may  see  in  this 
fact  a  sign  of  very  early  date,  namely  before  hope 
deferred  had  made  the  heart  sick  with  the  problem 
that  sooner  or  later  it  raised.1  But  not  many  years 
passed  before  this  problem  was  felt,  in  Syria  in  par- 
ticular, to  be  a  burning  one. 

1  Note  how  soon  the  problem  forced  itself  on  the  notice  of  the 
Thessalonian  converts,  a  few  months  or  so  after  their  conversion, 
80  necessitating  more  explicit  reminders  of  the  Eschatological  in- 
struction already  given  (1  Thess.  iv.  13-v.  2 ;  2  Thess.  ii.  5). 


BOOK  II. 
The  Age  of  Transition :     A.  D.  62-70. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JUDAISM    AND   THE   EMPIRE. 

EFORE  continuing  the  narrative  of  the 
church's  life,  whether  in  Syria  or  beyond, 
it  is  needful  to  realize  the  stirring  events 
that  engrossed  the  thoughts  of  men  and 
particularly  of  Christian  men  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  epoch  now  in  question.  It  was  a  time 
of  momentous  significance  both  for  Palestine  and  for 
the  Empire  at  large.  And  as  all  Christian  eyes  were 
strained  to  read  the  counsels  of  God  in  current  events, 
in  the  full  expectation  that  Providence  was  reach- 
ing its  climax  and  the  present  world  its  goal,  external 
history  has  at  this  epoch  a  more  intimate  connection 
with  Christian  life  and  feeling  than  at  any  other 
known  to  Church  history. 

By  the  spring  of  66  the  susceptibility  of  the  Jews 
had  become  altogether  abnormal,  and  the  patience 
of  the  Roman  governor  was  proportionately  ex- 
hausted. In  the  middle  of  May  a  collision  occurred 
in  Jerusalem  between  the  populace  and  the  Romans 

260 


Strife  icith  Romans  in  Jerusalem  and  Csesarea.  861 


on  a  comparatively  slight  issue.     But  it  was  enough 
to  make   it   culpable  in   Floras,  the  procurator,  to 
retire  at  this  time  to  Ccesarea,  leaving  the  excited 
city  to  the  care  of  a  small  garrison  in  the  fortified 
quarter  known  as  the  Castle  of  Antonia  (c£.  Acts 
xx:.  34  f.).     This  imprudence  was  not  at  once  fol- 
lowed by  an   open  outbreak  ;  but  it  weakened  the 
hands   of  the  moderates;    and  by  gradual  acts  of 
aggression  on  the  part  of  the  irresponsibles,  such  as 
the  seizure  of  the  fortress  of  Masada,  overhanging 
the  Dead  Sea,  the  nation  simply  drifted  into  a  state 
of    revolt.     In    despair,    the    official   hierarchy    and 
aristocracy    invoked     the    aid    of    Floras    and    of 
Agrippa    II.,  the   native    ruler   of  certain  parts  of 
Palestine,  who  had  the  right  of  nominating  the  High 
Priest    and   generally    supervising    Jewish    religion. 
The  former  did  not  respond,  perhaps  thinking  things 
could  only  be  bettered  by  first  becoming  worse  ;  the 
latter  sent  a  force  of  Arab  cavalry  to  the  support  of 
the   authorities.     This    had   the    effect   of  dividing 
Jerusalem   literally  into   two    camps,   the    party   of 
order  occupying  the  upper  city,  the  revolutionaries 
the  lower  city  and  the  temple,  Eleazar,  a  member 
of  the  high-priestly  family  and  the  Captain  of  the 
Temple,  being  opposed  to  the  policy  of  his  own  class 
and   kindred.     By  the   middle   of  August   the   war 
party  were  in  possession  of  their  rivals'  quarter  like- 
wise ;  the  Romans  were  cooped  up  in  three  strong 
towers;   and   by  about  the  end  of  September  they 
were   annihilated.     Thus  in  less  than  five  months 
azar's  party  were    masters  of  Jerusalem.      But 
not  only  so.     Eastern  Judaea  (od  whose  borders  lay 


262  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Arab  tribes  more  or  less  hostile  to  Rome),  Galilee, 
and,  beyond  Jordan,  Idumsea  and  Pereea,  were  now 
with  the  rebels. 

For  the  storm  had  meantime  been  spreading  from 
another  centre,  Csesarea  itself.  Here  the  Jews  and 
the  other  inhabitants  of  Syria  met  in  greatest  num- 
bers and  under  most  dangerous  conditions.  For 
being  nearly  balanced,  they  were  always  irritating 
each  other  in  petty  ways :  and  riots  and  appeals  to 
the  Roman  governor  were  of  constant  occurrence. 
For  some  half-dozen  years  things  had  been  getting 
ever  worse ;  and  at  the  time  in  question  a  case 
touching  the  profanation  of  a  synagogue  had  just 
been  decided  against  the  Jewish  faction.  The 
mutual  irritation  of  the  moment  was  disastrous. 
Under  the  stimulus  of  the  outbreak  at  Jerusalem  the 
Jews  at  Csesarea  were  practically  exterminated.  This 
at  once  led  to  fearful  reprisals  wherever  the  Jews 
felt  themselves  strong  enough  to  strike.  This  they 
did  not  only  throughout  Southern  Syria,  including 
Damascus,  but  also  in  Alexandria,  where  the  Jews 
formed  a  sort  of  township  to  themselves.  For  a 
month  they  slew  and  were  slain — the  long  pent- 
up  suspicion  of  the  Jew,  as  a  distinct  social  and 
religious  type,  thus  finding  awful  vent  as  well  as 
justification.  How  far  the  Christians  of  Syria  were 
involved  in  the  common  reign  of  terror,  being  liable 
as  they  were  to  suspicion  from  both  sides,  we  have 
no  sure  means  of  judging.  They  must  certainly  have 
felt  this  month  of  horrors  to  be  the  prelude  of 
Messiah's  manifest  intervention  in  a  world  dis- 
ordered beyond  recall :  but  of  their  reflections  on  the 


Earlier  Stages  of  the  War.  263 

whole  epoch  of  the  Revolt  we  shall  have  to  treat 
later. 

At  last  Cestius  Gallus,  the  governor  of  Syria 
and  the  master  of  the  legions  in  those  parts,  marched 
from  Antioch  to  reduce  the  revolt.  Galilee  pre- 
sented but  little  difficulty;  but  after  some  slight 
success  before  Jerusalem  he  suddenly  retired, 
ignominiously  harrassed  by  the  foe.  This  was  in 
November,  and  being  taken  as  an  omen  of  final  suc- 
cess naturally  had  the  result  of  infusing  into  the 
revolution  that  degree  of  fanatical  confidence  which 
carried  the  Jewish  people  through  all  the  war  and 
the  crowning  horrors  of  the  final  siege.  The  die  was 
cast.  It  is  needless  to  describe  the  further  details, 
which  may  be  read  in  the  terribly  vivid  and  realistic 
pages  of  Josephus,  save  in  so  far  as  they  may  help  to 
explain  certain  passages  in  Christian  writings  to 
which  reference  must  yet  be  made.  It  is  probable 
that  large  numbers  of  the  soberer  sort  among  all 
classes  quietly  withdrew  from  the  unparalleled  crisis 
which  they  felt  to  be  looming  in  the  future.  If 
we  ask  at  what  stage  the  bulk  of  the  Christians  left 
Jerusalem,  we  ask  a  hard  question,  to  which  we 
essay  in  a  later  connection  such  answer  as  is  pos- 
sible. But  we  must  be  prepared  to  allow  for 
divergent  ideals  and  policies  as  having  obtained  even 
among  the  professed  adherents  of  Jesus,  correspond- 
ing to  varying  degrees  of  insight  into  the  spirituality 
of  His  Messianic  Kingdom,  in  contrast  to  popular 
Messianic  ideals.  To  judge  from  the  vigorous  way 
in  which  the  study  of  Thorali,  the  official  interpre- 
tation and  application  of  the  Mosaic  Law,  sprang  up 


264  The  Apostolic  Age. 

on  the  morrow  of  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem,  we  may 
conclude  that  many  of  the  Rabbis  or  professional 
scholars  withdrew  about  this  time,  feeling  that  they 
and  their  dicta  had  no  longer  any  place  amid  such 
confusion  and  lawlessness.  But,  with  such  possible 
exceptions,  the  great  bulk  of  all  classes  were  kept  in 
the  historic  city  by  some  feeling  of  duty,  hope,  or 
interest :  and  at  first  something  like  a  constitutional 
government  was  still  attempted,  while  resistance  to 
the  foreigner  was  vigorously  organized  in  Galilee 
and  beyond  Jordan. 

In  so  far  as  they  reflected  at  all  on  the  timeliness 
of  their  supreme  effort  against  Rome,  the  Jews  may 
have  derived  no  little  hope,  both  on  divine  and 
human  grounds,  from  the  fact  that  Rome  was  at  this 
time  represented  by  an  emperor  so  utterly  degenerate 
as  Nero.  By  the  irony  of  facts,  news  of  the  repulse 
of  Cestius  reached  this  emperor  when  on  a  fantastic 
trip  to  Greece,  in  the  furtherance  of  his  infatuation 
for  scenic  displays  and  athletic  competitions.  But 
the  Roman  empire  was  still  served  by  men  of  sterner 
fibre,  though  in  this  instance,  as  in  many  another,  it 
came  not  from  the  old  circles  of  the  public  service 
but  from  the  unspoiled  manhood  of  obscurer  descent. 
Vespasian,  a  tried  soldier,  was  told  off  to  meet  the 
emergency ;  and  ere  he  betook  himself  to  his  winter- 
quarters  in  Cassarea,  at  the  end  of  the  next  year,  the 
flames  of  revolt  in  Galilee  had  been  quenched  in 
torrents  of  blood.  True  he  had  but  driven  back 
upon  Jerusalem  some  of  the  fiercer  spirits,  such  as 
John  of  Gischala.  But  these  were  in  the  end  to  be 
more  fatal  to  those  within,  than  to  the  foe  without 


The  Holy  City  Profaned  by  the  Zealots.      2G5 


the  city's  walls.  For  their  advent  turned  the 
balance  of  power  decisively  against  Ananus  and  the 
more  moderate  party ;  and  with  the  violent  death  of 
Ananus,  the  son  of  the  chief  author  of  the  death  of 
Jesus,  and  a  man  in  whom  Josephus  saw  the  one 
possible  saviour  of  his  country  through  some  skilful 
arrangement  with  the  Romans  at  the  eleventh  hour 
—with  this  final  stroke  of  the  Zealot  party  Jeru- 
salem's doom  was  sealed. 

Long,  indeed,  before  the  foe  could  profane  it,  the 
Holy  City  had  lost  all  claim  to  that  title  even  in 
Jewish  eyes,  by  the  utter  enormities  enacted  by  the 
Zealots  in  strange  and  unholy  alliance  with  Idu- 
mseans  and  other  aliens,  "  in  ruin  reconciled."  The 
Temple  itself  became  their  barracks,  and  every  con- 
sideration of  purity,  ceremonial  and  otherwise,  was 
thrown  to  the  winds  in  their  frenzied  pursuit  of  a 
war  that  was  no  longer  a  means  to  any  high  or  holy 
end,  but  itself  the  one  all-absorbing  end  and  passion. 
Priest  and  Rabbi,  the  organs  of  Israel's  religion  in 
its  two  aspects,  had  alike  been  thrown  aside :  and  as 
is  wont  to  be  the  case  in  "  religious  wars,"  religion 
had  been  swallowed  up  of  war  and  the  lawless  lusts 
to  which  war  gives  rein.  Could  stultification  more 
complete  be  imagined  of  the  high  prudential  politics 
of  those  religious  rulers,  who,  scarce  a  generation 
since,  had  decided  that  it  was  "  expedient  that  one 
man  should  die  for  the  people,  and  that  the  whole 
nation  perish  not"?  In  this  world,  where  provi- 
dence often  seems  to  work  slowly  and  indirectly,  no 
parallel  for  impressive  precision  can  be  cited  to  this 
"  great  reversal  "  of  human  judgments.     The  reign 


266  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  terror  had  now  finally  set  in,  and  went  on  grow- 
ing in  intensity  and  utter  horror  during  the  two 
years  and  a  half  still  intervening  ere  night  fell  for- 
ever on  the  Jewish  Church-State. 

While  Vespasian  was  approaching  Jerusalem  in 
the  early  summer  of  68,  stamping  out  the  revolt  as 
he  proceeded,  Nero  died  on  June  9th.  The  ugly 
rumors  that  had  called  him  back  from  Greece  to  neg- 
lected Italy,  had  not  been  long  in  taking  definite 
shape.  By  the  middle  of  March,  68,  Vindex  had 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt  from  a  tyrant  who  was 
not  even  a  man  of  force,  but  a  mad  buffoon.  In 
three  weeks  followed  the  defection  of  Galba  in 
Spain.  Yet,  though  in  helpless  fear,  he  changed 
none  of  his  habits,  laid  aside  none  of  his  affectations. 
Indeed  it  was  amid  self  conscious  dramatic  posings 
and  appropriate  literary  sallies,  that  death  overtook 
him  by  the  hand  of  his  faithful  secretary,  when  he 
could  not  himself  summon  courage  to  apply  the  dag- 
ger that  should  save  him  from  a  more  ignominious 
death.  He  died,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  in  the 
obscurity  of  the  country  villa  of  one  of  his  freed- 
men ;  and  his  half-secret  burial  he  owed  largely  to 
the  devotion  of  three  obscure  women  who  still  loved 
him.  Thus,  few  had  seen  his  corpse— an  accident 
which,  as  we  shall  have  cause  to  notice  later,  tended 
to  foster  the  "  Nero  legend,"  according  to  which  he 
was  to  reappear  from  the  East  and  reign  like  an 
Oriental  despot. 

This  saga,  which  seems  to  have  originated  even  in 
his  lifetime,  grew  after  the  somewhat  mysterious 
close  of  his  career.     It  connected  itself  more  and 


The  Situation  on  the  Death  of  Nero.         2G7 

more,  not  only  with  the  fact  that  he  had  had  unusu- 
ally close  relations  with  the  Parthians,  the  traditional 
enemies  of  Rome,  but  also  with  the  widely  diffused 
notion  of  a  coming  Golden  Age  in  the  world's  his- 
tory. This  already  meets  us  in  Virgil's  famous  Ec- 
logue, based  on  certain  "  Sibylline  "  Oracles,  where 
it  is  conceived  in  pagan  fashion  as  the  restoration  of 
primal  glories  while  as  yet  gods  mingled  with  men 
in  familiar  intercourse.1  In  Virgil  indeed  it  may  be 
largely  a  literary  mannerism ;  but  by  the  common 
people  at  least  such  oracles  were  taken  seriously, 
especially  at  certain  epochs  of  time  that  were  felt  to 
be  portentous.  And  Nero's  reign  had  been  emphat- 
ically portentous,  both  in  the  moral  and  the  physical 
order.  Nothing  seemed  to  men's  strained  minds  too 
marvellous  to  happen — except,  perhaps,  the  normal. 
Again,  while  Virgil  had  dwelt  on  the  era  itself  and 
its  glories,  to  the  Neronian  age,  accustomed  to  seeing 
the  empire  and  its  tendencies  incarnate  in  a  person, 
anything  short  of  a  central  and  creative  personality 
seemed  shadowy  and  unreal.  And  so  its  mood  re- 
sponded as  never  before  to  the  ideas  of  the  East  in 
this  regard,  where  the  notion  was  certainly  prevalent 
that  a  master  of  the  world  should  thence  arise. 
Chaldseans  and  astrologers  were  so  influential  at 
Rome,  that  we  hear  more  than  once  of  edicts  for  their 
expulsion.  But,  it  will  be  asked,  who  could  have 
wished  for  a  Nero  redivivus,  so  as  to  think  of  his 

1  Ultima  Cnmsei  venit  jam  carminis  £etas; 
Magnus  ab  integro  sajclorum  nascitur  ordo. 
Jam  redit  et  Virgo  [Justitia],  redeuut  Saturuia  regna: 
Jam  nova  progenies  cnelo  demittitur  alto. 


268  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

return  as  other  than  an  object  of  nameless  horror — 
the  light  in  which  it  seems  to  have  been  anticipated 
in  certain  Jewish  and  Christian  circles  (see  below, 
p.  338)?  Yet  Nero  had  a  following,  and  that  a  very 
large  one,  among  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  un- 
privileged many  who  felt  chilled  and  depressed  by 
the  aloofness  of  the  ruling  orders  among  whom  lived 
the  traditions  of  the  old  Roman  patricians.  Nero 
had  been  very  human  in  a  sense,  had  shown  no  caste 
feeling,  had  literally  come  down  and  mingled  among 
them  freely  in  the  theatre  and  the  circus,  and  had 
on  occasion  given  them  splendid  and  exciting  spec- 
tacles. There  was,  then,  a  Nero  tradition  and  a  Nero 
party ;  and  in  the  eighteen  months  following  on  his 
death,  during  which  the  succession  to  the  lordship  of 
the  world  was  yet  undecided,  these  told  powerfully 
on  the  course  both  of  thought  and  action. 

The  first  candidate  for  the  purple,  Galba,  an  hon- 
est old  soldier,  and  a  representative  of  the  senate  and 
the  anti-Nero  party,  refused  to  fall  in  with  the  new 
fashion  of  ruling  by  humoring  the  soldiery,  whom 
the  general  upset  had  made  the  arbiters  of  power. 
He  was  swept  out  of  the  way ;  and  Otho,  once  a 
boon-companion  of  Nero's  and  an  admirer  of  his 
ways,  replaced  him  (Jan.  15,  69).  He  might  be  de- 
scribed as  Nero's  spiritual  successor,  and  was  wel- 
comed by  the  populace  as  such.  And  when  he  too 
fell,  after  a  brief  three  months,  before  his  rival 
Vitellius,  the  nominee  of  the  German  legions,  it  was 
only  a  change  of  persons,  not  of  principles. 

During  all  these  changes  and  disorders  at  the  seat 
of   empire,  what  eager   spectators  must   the    Jews 


Rise  of  the  .New  Dynasty.  269 

throughout  the  East  and  particularly  in  Palestine 
have  been  !  The  latter,  "  accustomed  to  the  ephem- 
eral kingdoms  of  the  East"  (so  largely  bound  up 
with  the  reigning  dynasty),  may  well  have  taken 
courage  at  the  news  that  Ceesar's  house  no  longer 
yielded  a  ruling  Caesar,  and  looked  exultantly  for 
the  break-up  of  the  Roman  Empire.  They  may 
even  have  construed  the  revolt  in  Gaul  as  one  for 
national  independence  after  their  own  ideal.  In  any 
case  we  know  that  in  Jerusalem  the  internecine 
madness  of  its  defenders  mounted  higher  and  higher. 
To  check  and  over-awe  John  and  his  Zealots,  a  free- 
booter named  Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  was  admitted 
in  March,  69,  and  occupied  the  city  outside  the  tem- 
ple. In  course  of  time  the  struggles  between  these 
two  parties  were  complicated  by  the  withdrawal  of 
a  party  among  the  Zealots  under  Eleazar,  son  of 
Simon,  of  the  priestly  stock,  who  established  himself 
in  the  inner  precincts  of  the  temple,  whither,  strange 
to  relate,  worshippers  still  came  with  their  offerings. 
And  so,  buoyed  by  delusive  hopes  in  part  based  on 
the  civil  wars  of  the  Romans,  the  Jews  held  their 
ground,  and  outraged  every  sanctity,  human  and  di- 
vine, for  something  like  another  year. 

Meantime  Vespasian  and  his  elder  son  Titus  had 
remained  at  Csesarea  watching  the  course  of  events 
in  the  larger  world.  Vespasian  had  little  personal 
ambition.  But  Titus  had  hopes  which  slowly  took 
shape  through  a  concurrence  of  favoring  conditions. 
In  the  first  place  there  was  a  strong  party  of  reaction 
against  Nero's  ways.  Next  the  Syrian  legions  were 
getting  restive  at  the  spectacle  of  their  western  com- 


270  The  Apostolic  Age. 

rades  playing  the  part  of  Caesar-makers ;  and  they 
longed  for  their  turn.  Last  and  most  paradoxical  of 
all,  the  Jews  in  place  and  power  also  made  their  will 
distinctly  felt  in  the  selection  of  the  new  dynasty  of 
emperors.  This  was  due  mainly  to  the  extraordi- 
nary influence  which  Berenice,  who  has  already 
crossed  our  path  some  ten  years  before,  when  St. 
Paul  pleaded  before  her  brother  Agrippa  II.,  came 
to  exercise  over  Titus.  She,  like  Josephus  and  the 
renegade  Tiberius  Alexander,  then  prefect  of  Egypt, 
seems  to  have  been  partly  actuated  by  a  sort  of 
transformed  Messianic  ideal,  according  to  which 
Vespasian  was  a  Gentile  Messiah.  And  another 
strange  thing  is  that  Vespasian  and  Titus  seem  in  a 
way  to  have  shared  their  point  of  view.  In  any  case 
they  were  supported  by  all  the  princelings  related  to 
the  Herods,  and  they  seem  to  have  remained  more 
appreciative  of  Syrian  ideas  than  their  predecessors 
had  been.  On  July  1st  Tiberius  Alexander  pro- 
claimed Vespasian  at  Alexandria,  an  example  quickly 
followed  by  the  legions  at  Csesarea  and  by  those 
under  Mucianus  at  Antioch.  It  was  decided  that 
Mucianus  should  march  against  Vitellius  while 
Titus  continued  the  Jewish  war,  Vespasian  mean- 
time awaiting  the  course  of  events  at  Alexandria. 
By  the  end  of  December  the  Flavian  dynasty  was 
finally  established,  and  by  its  sensible  and  economic 
conduct  of  public  affairs  began  to  give  the  Empire 
a  new  stability.  Far  other  was  it  with  its  would-be 
rival.  By  the  end  of  69  all  Judsea  had  submitted, 
with  the  exception  of  Jerusalem  and  three  strong- 
holds perched  on  heights  overlooking  the  Dead  Sea. 


The   Defence  of  Jerusalem.  271 

And  now,  with  the  spring  of  70,  Titus,  freed  from 
other  anxieties,  advanced  to  the  grim  task  of  a  set 
siege,  the  more  incensed  by  reason  of  efforts  its  de- 
fenders had  made  to  bring  the  Parthians  into  the 
arena  of  the  late  civil  war.  His  lines  surrounded 
Jerusalem  just  when  it  was  crowded  with  pilgrims 
to  the  Passover,  a  fact  which  made  the  sequel  yet 
more  unspeakably  tragic,  while  it  proves  the  confi- 
dence in  the  national  cause  still  felt  by  numbers  of 
the  Diaspora  in  face  of  all  that  had  occurred  within 
the  city  to  shock  anything  like  a  sensitive  piety. 
Some  Jewish  advantages  gained  by  surprise  served 
only  to  aggravate  the  struggle  on  both  sides.  The 
city  was  singularly  rich  in  defences,  owing  to  the 
hilly  nature  of  the  site.  By  May  half  the  city  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Romans.  At  this  stage  terms  were 
offered,  probably  owing  in  part  to  the  good  offices  of 
Agrippa,  Josephus,  and  other  Jews  near  to  the  per- 
son of  the  Roman  general.  Their  contemptuous  re- 
jection was  followed  by  enhanced  cruelty  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  siege.  Thus  hundreds  of  prisoners  were 
crucified,  with  odious  tortures,  in  the  sight  of  the 
city,  to  intimidate  the  foe.  But  the  defenders  hav- 
ing succeeded  in  burning  the  siege  machines  by 
sorties  at  the  end  of  May,  were  little  in  the  mood  to 
be  awed.  And  so  circumvallation  was  resorted  to. 
By  the  end  of  June  famine  began  to  do  its  deadly 
work  both  directly  and  indirectly.  The  armed 
Zealots  cared  only  for  themselves,  and  by  their  un- 
heard-of barbarities  in  seizing  provisions  drove  the 
wretched  citizens  to  correspondingly  desperate  and 
revolting    expedients    for    self-preservation.     Thus 


272  The  Apostolic  Age. 

famine,  disease,  desperation,  madness,  made  the 
city  a  very  Inferno.  Yet  did  they  believe  the  Tem- 
ple inviolable,  and  relied  on  Jehovah's  intervention 
at  the  last  moment  for  it  and  for  its  defenders. 

At  last,  weary  of  delays,  Titus  prepared  to  storm 
the  remaining  defences.  On  July  the  5th  the  for- 
tress Antonia  fell,  and  opened  a  path  for  further  at- 
tacks. These  were  concentrated  on  the  key  of  the 
situation,  the  massive  masonry  of  the  Temple -area. 
On  July  17th  the  perpetual  sacrifices  ceased,  for  want 
of  those  at  leisure  to  offer.  This  must,  indeed,  have 
sent  cold  dismay  through  most  hearts.  It  was,  to 
strict  Jewish  sentiment,  a  phenomenon  as  grave  as  a 
cessation  of  the  processes  of  nature.  It  seemed  like 
the  snapping  of  the  last  link  between  them  and 
Jehovah,  in  whom  was  now  their  sole  hope  of  succor. 
Again  the  Jews  about  Titus  seem  to  have  gained  for 
them  the  offer  of  terms:  and  again  it  was  flung  back 
in  disdain.  Step  by  step  the  area  was  won,  and  on 
August  8th,  the  walls  having  defied  the  strongest  en- 
gines, fire  was  set  to  the  gates  of  the  temple  pre- 
cincts. The  horror  of  the  Jews  at  seeing  the  in- 
credible happen,  must  have  been  unutterable.  But 
there  was  no  time  for  reflection;  the  frenzied  instinct 
of  resistance  was  now  too  strong  upon  them.  They 
made  a  fierce  assault  on  the  troops  guarding  the 
charred  portals,  while  Titus  was  deliberating  on  the 
fate  of  the  Temple  itself  and  resting  for  the  final 
assault.  They  were  hurled  back,  and  the  Romans 
pressing  closely  on  their  heels  poured  into  the  outer 
temple  court.  Almost  at  once  fire  broke  out  in  the 
northern  porticos.     And  when  Titus  came  upon  the 


Josephus'  Account  of  the  War.  $373 

scene,  it  was  too  late  to  save  the  structure  as  a 
whole.  Nor  was  he  even  able,  though  he  probably 
desired  it,  to  save  the  splendid  sanctuary  itself.  It 
too  perished  by  some  chance  brand. 

On  the  fearful  carnage  that  followed  then  and 
during  the  many  days  that  it  took  to  reduce  the  re- 
maining strongholds,  it  is  needless  to  dwell.  Nor 
need  one  narrate  the  last  and  fiercest  stand  of  all, 
that  which  ended  in  the  self-immolation  of  the  gar- 
rison of  Masada,  the  rock-fortress  on  the  further 
shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  on  April  15th,  72.  Enough 
to  relate  that  a  certain  number  of  captives  were 
kept  for  death  at  great  fetes  and  spectacles ;  of  the 
rest,  those  above  seventeen  were  condemned  to 
forced  labor  in  Egypt  and  elsewhere  ;  while  those 
below  seventeen  were  simply  sold  as  slaves.  The 
Temple  buildings  were  razed  to  the  very  foundations, 
and  the  site  of  the  city  was  rendered  utterly  deso- 
late, "a  dwelling  place  of  jackals,"  save  where  the 
Tenth  Legion  was  left,  encamped  under  the  shelter 
of  part  of  the  western  wall,  to  guard  the  ruins  and 
prevent  all  attempts  at  restoration.  And  so  it  lay 
from  September  70  to  the  year  122,  when  it  began 
to  be  rebuilt  by  Hadrian  as  a  Roman  colony  under 
the  name  of  JElia  Capitolina. 

"  Judsea  was  overturned  from  top  to  bottom."  A 
special  tribute  was  levied  on  Jews  throughout  the 
empire,  amounting  to  the  sum  which  they  had 
hitherto  paid  to  their  temple  in  Jerusalem.  Apart 
from  this,  Jews  in  general  did  not  suffer  permanent 
harm  from  the  revolt  in  Judgea,  a  circumstance  due 
in  part  to  the  coterie  of  leading  Jews  who  followed 
E 


274  The  Apostolic  Age. 


Titus  to  Rome  and  of  which  Agrippa  and  Berenice 
— who  bid  fair  at  one  time  to  be  a  second  Cleopatra 
— were  centre.  In  this  pious  work  of  minimizing 
the  anti- Jewish  impression  which  the  war  could  not 
fail  to  leave  behind,  Josephus  played  an  important 
part  by  his  history  of  the  Jewish  War,  which  he 
wrote  and  published  towards  the  end  of  Vespasian's 
reign  "  under  royal  patronage,"  as  it  were.  Yet  the 
more  intensely  national  spirit,  even  in  Jews  natural- 
ized outside  Palestine,  had  not  been  extinguished ; 
it  had  but  been  driven  underground  for  a  while. 
And  the  proof  is,  the  frightful  outburst  of  fanati- 
cism against  their  neighbors,  the  last  on  any  scale, 
which  marked  the  final  year  or  two  of  Trajan's 
reign,  115  A.  D. 

And  so  passed  away  forever  the  last  vestige  of  any 
danger  of  a  powerful  Palestinian  mother-Church, 
fostered  in  its  Judaistic  proclivities  by  living  and 
having  its  being  amid  a  national,  that  is  to  say,  a 
necessarily  intolerant  and  exclusive  Judaism.  But 
in  fact  this  was  what  really  happened  at  the  earlier 
and  greater  catastrophe  of  70,  whose  significance  for 
the  full  emancipation  of  Christianity  may  be  exag- 
gerated indeed,  since  much  was  already  achieved  by 
the  Pauline  Missions,  but  must  always  remain 
momentous.  For  the  nascent  Gentile  Church  might 
have  been  much  hampered  by  the  overshadowing 
prestige  of  the  great  mother-Church ;  and  a  wide 
division  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  one  in 
which  the  further  East  would  probably  have  gone 
largely  with  Judaea,  must  have  been  a  great  calamity. 
Any  such  danger  was  averted  by  the  events  of  A.  D. 


Danger  of  Exclusive  Judaism  Averted.       275 

70L  Though  Judaeo-Christians l  might  be  insensible  to 
the  logic  of  the  Pauline  Gospel,  they  were  not  blind 
to  the  stern  logic  of  facts.  And  with  the  ruin  of 
Jewish  national  existence,  of  the  Jewish  polity  as 
the  possible  framework  of  a  world-wide  theocracy, 
went  their  long-cherished  prejudice  as  to  the  form  in 
which  the  Messianic  Kingdom  was  to  be  realized  on 
earth.  However  it  was  to  be — and  as  to  this  the 
vaguest  and  most  diverse  notions  prevailed — the  Jew, 
in  contrast  to  the  Gentile,  was  to  occupy  a  far  less 
privileged  position  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  than 
had  once  been  supposed.  All  walls  of  partition  were 
felt  to  be  vanishing,  and  the  categories  "  Jew  "  and 
"  Gentile  "  were  becoming  altogether  absorbed  in  a 
single  higher  one,  that  of  elect  humanity,  the  sanc- 
tified by  faith  in  Jesus  the  Christ. 

Judaism  seemed,  after  all  its  agonies  and  tears,  its 
sufferings  for  its  divine  vocation,  to  have  been 
brought  to  naught.  Yet  it  was  not  so,  any  more 
than  in  the  former  Exile.  Israel  after  the  flesh,  in- 
deed, was  rejected  and  confounded.  But  the  spirit- 
ual Israel,  the  true  children  of  Abraham,  whose  faith 
said  Yea  to  a  living  God  who  was  ever  leading  them 
past  old  landmarks,  "  not  knowing  whither  they 
went " — this  Israel  was  the  rather  justified  and  con- 
firmed. The  true  Shekinah  had  in  fact  gone  forth 
to  reside  in  the  holier  sanctuary  of  the  New  Israel. 
The  "  Woman  arrayed  with  the  sun "  had  already 

1  That  the  lesson  was  also  taken  to  heart  (as  a  divine  judgment 
on  the  degenerate  state  of  the  national  religion)  by  certain  Jews 
outside  Palestine,  seems  implied  in  the  later  parts  of  some  of  the 
Jewish  Apocrypha,  especially  of  Baruch  and  perhaps  iv,  Ezra, 


276  The  Apostolic  Age. 

gone  through  her  true  travailing,  and  had  given 
birth  to  her  regal  Son ;  her  divine  vocation  was  ful- 
filled. Ere  the  sun  of  Jerusalem  had  set  in  blood, 
it  had  already  risen  elsewhere.  The  higher  spirit  of 
Judaism  had  migrated.  It  had  taken  up  its  abode, 
no  longer  in  a  race,  but  in  the  large  heart  of 
humanity.  Old  Zion's  warfare  was  accomplished ; 
her  prime  providential  mission  was  ended.  The 
continued  survival  of  Judaism  as  a  distinct  racial  re- 
ligion was  an  anachronism.  True,  there  have  been 
times  when  the  Church's  failure  has  been  Israel's  op- 
portunity. But  after  all  has  been  recognized,  it  re- 
mains true  that  in  Christian  faith  and  life,  as  set  forth 
in  the  New  Testament,  all  the  permanent  message  of 
Judaism  and  much  more  is  to  be  found ;  and  it  there 
lives  freed  from  the  old  husk  of  carnal  nationalism. 
While,  then,  the  thoughtful  mind  must  contemplate 
with  the  deepest  pathos,  and  with  no  small  search- 
ings  of  heart,  the  catastrophe  in  which  the  con- 
servatism of  blunted  moral  perceptions  involved  a 
whole  nation,  it  cannot  but  feel  the  enormous  nega- 
tive gain  that  such  a  world-judgment  on  a  false  ideal 
at  once  brought  about.  The  idea  of  covenanted  ex- 
clusiveness,  blind  to  the  rights  alike  of  mankind  and 
of  the  individual  man,  was  incarnated  in  the  Judaism 
that,  having  rejected  the  Christian  idea  of  Religion, 
fought  itself  to  death  in  70  A.  D.  Would  that  the 
Church,  the  visible  guardian  of  the  opposed  re- 
ligious principle,  had  never  itself  been  leavened  with 
the  old  bitter  leaven. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PALESTINE   AND   THE   EPISTLE    "TO   HEBREWS." 

HERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  decade 
prior  to  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem  brought 
severe  and  varied  trials  to  Christian  faith. 
What  chiefly  made  these  years  so  critical 
was  the  fact  that  the  leaders,  the  apostles 
and  other  witnesses  of  the  first  generation,  were 
rapidly  passing  off  the  scene.  This  is  a  fact  which 
would  under  any  view  have  tended  to  make  the 
situation  more  critical  than  heretofore.  The  re- 
moval of  the  "  fathers "  of  any  movement  always 
brings  a  testing  time.  But  it  was  specially  so  with 
the  second  generation  of  Christians.  For  their 
leaders  had  lived  in  the  expectation  that  they  them- 
selves would  not  "taste  of  death  "in  the  ordinary 
sense,  but  that  ere  the  eyewitnesses  of  Messiah's 
first  appearing  had  fallen  asleep  "  the  Kingdom  of 
God "  should  have  come  "  in  power."  Nay,  there 
were  even  current,  as  a  saying  of  Christ's,  the 
words :  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you  that  this  generation 
shall  not  pass  until  these  things  shall  all  have  come 
to  pass."  What  things?  Hitherto  at  least,  such 
words  had  been  understood  to  mean  that  the  Second 
Coming,  the  full  and  final  "  Presence  "  (Parousia) 
of  the  glorified  Messiah,  should  anticipate  the  debt 
of  nature;  and  that  they  and  their  fellow-believers 
should  see  the  manifest  vindication  of  their  faith  that 

277 


278  The  Apostolic  Age. 

He  who  had  been  crucified  in  weakness  had  indeed 
been  raised  in  power.  But  no  such  vindication  had 
occurred.  On  the  contrary,  the  growing  weight  of 
exceptions  was  beginning  to  bear  down  the  rule,  that 
certain  original  disciples  should  live  to  witness  the 
Lord's  Return.  This  very  practical  perplexity  was 
felt  by  all  Christian  circles  in  some  degree.  But  it 
was  felt  most  acutely  in  those  of  the  Judseo-Christian 
type.  They  were  saturated  with  the  traditional 
Jewish  Messianic  expectation,  which  disqualified 
men  for  taking  another  and  more  spiritual  view  of 
such  sayings  of  Jesus  as  seemed  to  imply  a  speedy 
bodily  return.  They  were  familiar  with  Palestine, 
in  many  cases  with  the  very  spots  which  His  earthly 
ministry  had  consecrated,  and  were  naturally  more 
preoccupied  with  the  realistic  side  of  Messiah's 
history — that  "  Knowledge  after  the  flesh  "  in  which 
Paul  saw  no  small  danger.  Further  they  knew  the 
original  apostles  as  men,  in  a  way  impossible  to  dis- 
tant Gentile  Christians.  And  last  but  not  least, 
they  had  in  many  cases  failed  to  grow  into  that  in- 
nerness  of  faith,  that  realization  of  a  personal  sal- 
vation in  Christ  already  present  in  experience, 
which  was  the  compensating  advantage  of  Gentile 
Christianity,  imperfectly  informed  as  it  was  on  the 
actual  history  of  the  Messianic  Salvation. 

Thus  we  mu-%t  consider  the  problem  of  this  transi- 
tion period,  before  the  year  70  opened  many  blind 
eyes  to  the  true  nature  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom  as 
realized  in  the  New  Israel  of  God,  under  two  largely 
distinct  aspects  ;  those,  namely,  which  tried  the  faith 
and    patience    of    Palestinian    and   non-Palestinian 


Problems  of  James''  Martyrdom.  279 


Christians  respectively.  And  first  as  regards  Pales- 
tinian Christianity.  Here  the  enquiry  that  springs 
to  mind  is  that  touching  its  attitude,  after  James' 
death  in  62,  to  the  patriotic  movement  that  proved 
the  death-pangs  of  the  national  existence.  The  sub- 
ject is  confessedly  obscure,  owing  to  the  paucity  and 
incidental  nature  of  our  data.  Yet  a  fairly  self-con- 
sistent picture  may  be  drawn  at  least  provisionally. 

We  have  seen  already  how  little  transformed  by 
the  belief,  "  Jesus  is  the  Messiah,"  was  the  average 
religion  of  Judseo-Christians,  especially  in  Syria 
itself.  This  emerged  from  our  study  of  the  first  half 
of  Acts,  the  Epistle  of  James,  and  the  earlier  parts 
of  "Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles."  Accord- 
ingly when  James,  the  revered  head  of  the  Jeru- 
salem Church  and  the  leading  figure  in  Judaean 
Christianity,  l  was  removed  by  martyrdom  at  the 
hands  of  the  priestly  hierarchy,  not  later  than  A.  D. 
62,  the  problem  must  have  arisen  in  many  minds  as 
to  the  bearing  of  this  event  on  their  earlier  hopes. 
Were  the  people  as  a  whole  after  all  to  remain  hostile 
to  Jesus  Messiah?  And  why  did  He  suffer  His  own 
blood-kinsman  and  dynastic  representative,  as  it 
were,  to  be  butchered,  and  yet  make  no  sign  ?  The 
scandal  of  His  own  shameful  death  had  indeed  been 
so  far  cancelled  by  His  glorious  resurrection,  and  by 
the  earnest  it  seemed  to  give  of  His  speedy  return  in 
power.  But  the  actual  course  of  events  since  then 
had  been  singularly  perplexing,  a  mixture  of  spiritual 
triumphs  and  earthly  disasters.     Trials,  indeed,  they 

1  "We  shall  give  reasons  for  believing  that  Peter  was  by  this 
time  far  less  than  James  to  the  bulk  of  Judaean  Christians. 


280  The  Apostolic  Age. 

were  more  or  less  prepared  for  as  part  of  the  birth- 
pangs  of  the  Age  to  come.  But  why  were  not  the 
most  faithful  of  His  followers  delivered  from  the 
final  bitter  cup  of  death?  All  seemed  weakness: 
where  was  His  power  to  save  ?  If  they  looked  fur- 
ther afield,  the  same  enigma  faced  them.  Paul,  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  whatever  doubts  some  of 
them  might  have  had  about  the  legitimacy  of  his 
methods,  was  obviously  a  man  who  had  enjoyed  his 
Lord's  approval.  And  yet  he  too  had  ended  his 
career  by  a  death  occasioned  by  what  they  knew  to 
be  a  false  charge  and  for  reasons  which  they  could 
not  fathom.  All  was  dark,  very  dark.  For  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  James'  death  had  encour- 
aged an  increase  of  persecution  in  various  degrees 
throughout  Palestine.1  What  could  it  mean?  What 
was  the  relation  of  the  new  and  higher  form  of  the 
Covenant  to  the  old,  whose  representatives  so  per- 
sistently refused  to  admit  its  claim  ? 

The  stress  was  more  than  the  Christian  faith  of 
many  had  power  to  withstand :  for  it  lacked  due  in- 
sight. And  so  a  crisis  seems  to  have  arisen  quite 
suddenly,  to  judge  from  the  hint  given  by  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews ;  since  its  writer,  while  intending 
to  hasten  to  his  readers'  side,  yet  felt  it  needful  to 
risk  a  letter  forthwith,  touching  the  reception  of 
which  he  felt  some  anxiety  (xiii.  18  f.,  22  f.).  Who 
this  writer  was  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  New  Testa- 
ment literature.  He  plainly  belonged  to  the  Pauline 
circle  in  some  sense,  though  in  theological  stand- 

1  See  Heb.  xii.  3-13,  xiii.  3,  though  things  had  not  yet  reached 
the  severity  implied  in  Mark  xiii.  12. 


The  Writer 's  Identity  Mysterious.  281 

point  he  is  even  more  the  successor  of  Stephen  ;  he 
is  kept  from  hurrying  off  to  Judaea  by  his  desire  for 
the  company  and  support  of  "  our  brother  Timothy," 
whose  release  (probably  from  imprisonment  occa- 
sioned by  the  closing  episodes  of  Paul's  earthly 
career)  he  chronicles  as  a  fact  just  brought  to  his 
own  ears.  He  appears  to  be  writing  from  Italy, 
most  likely  from  some  seaport  on  the  East  or  West 
coast.  On  the  other  hand  he  hopes  to  be  "speedily 
restored  "  to  his  readers,  an  expression  suggesting 
some  recent  residence  among  them.  He  has  consid- 
erable knowledge  of  their  leaders,  to  whose  faithful 
watch  over  their  brethren  he  alludes  emphatically 
(xiii.  7,  17,  24).  He  is  also  familiar  with  their 
mental  state  beyond  what  follows  from  the  fact  that 
he  has  had  recent  news  of  their  actual  condition, 
leading  him  to  pen  this  "  word  of  exhortation."  Yet 
he  is  also  keenly  alive  to  the  fact  that  he  is  not  ex- 
actly one  of  themselves  in  his  religious  standpoint 
and  traditions.  He  has  to  protest  that  what  he 
writes,  even  where  it  seems  strange  or  innovating, 
he  writes  in  a  "good  conscience,"  and  bespeaks  a 
candid  and  patient  hearing  (xiii.  18,  22).  Obviously 
he  cannot  rely  on  the  sheer  weight  of  his  name ;  for 
he  does  not  prefix  it.  It  is  only  on  the  cogency  of 
his  great  argument  that  he  has  to  rely.  This  cir- 
cumstance tells  somewhat  against  the  view  that 
Barnabas  was  the  writer ;  and  it  would  suit  A  polios 
rather  better  than    Silas.1 

1  Well  as  Silas  seems  to  fit  into  most  of  our  available  data,  yet 
if  the  same  Silas  was  about  63  the  bearer  of  Peter's  letter  to 
certain  churches  in  Asia  Minor,  his  work  could  hardly  have  led 
him  so  recently  to  Palestine. 


282  The  Apostolic  Age. 

On  the  whole,  then,  and  in  view  of  the  broadly 
"  Alexandrine  "  theology  of  the  Epistle  (though  on  a 
more  historical  and  realistic  basis  than  can  be  called 
strictly  Alexandrine),  probabilities  tend  to  converge 
on  Apollos.  Indeed,  if  we  can  suppose  that  he  had 
lived  in  Judaea  (e.  g.%  Caesarea)  a  good  deal  since 
Paul's  residence  at  Caesarea  (cf.  Titus  iii.  13) — 
whither  he  probably  attracted  many  of  his  old 
friends,  to  see  him  and  take  counsel  touching  his 
churches — we  have  a  most  satisfactory  hypothesis. 
More  we  can  hardly  say  on  the  score  of  authorship. 
But  in  any  case  the  readers,  while  Hebrews,  do  not 
seem  to  be  thought  of  as  in  Jerusalem,  but  rather  as 
in  the  maritime  plain,  where  some  knowledge  of 
Italian  Christians  is  more  likely  to  have  existed,  as 
well  as  a  less  immovable  devotion  to  the  Temple  serv- 
ices. Had  the  letter  been  addressed  to  Jerusalem,  it 
is  far  harder  to  explain  the  absence  of  early  tradition 
to  that  effect.  As  it  is,  a  sort  of  circular  letter,  sent 
primarily  to  the  more  Hellenized  communities  of  the 
coast-lands,  might  easily  fail  to  gain  a  local  habita- 
tion and  a  name.  For,  indeed,  "  To  Hebrews "  is 
next  to  no  name. 

Such  being  the  general  situation,  and  such  the 
type  of  readers  addressed,  we  may  from  the  Epistle 
itself  fill  in  the  picture  a  little  further.  Their  tend- 
ency to  a  faithless  falling  away  from  God  as  a 
"  living  God,"  by  "  drifting  away "  from  the  terra 
firma  of  the  Gospel  (iii.  12,  ii.  1),  was  due,  not  to 
any  mere  pressure  from  the  older  Judaism — though 
this  probably  served  to  bring  things  to  a  crisis — 
but  rather  to  a  growing  doubt  whether  their  religious 


His  Purposes  in  the  Epistle.  2So 

needs  were  met  much  more  fully  by  the  New  than  by 
the  Old.  Or  rather  they  asked  themselves  whether 
the  element  added  to  the  Old  by  the  New  was  of 
sufficient  moment  to  warrant  persistence  in  their 
somewhat  detached  attitude  toward  the  national  life, 
in  the  hope  that  it  would  ere  long  come  over  to  them 
by  piecemeal  conversions  or  by  a  sweeping  revulsion 
of  feeling.  They  were  feeling  more  than  ever  the 
cost  of  their  sectarian  position,  as  the  national  pulse 
began  to  beat  feverishly,  and  as  the  authorities 
showed  their  suspicion  by  acts  like  the  martyrdom 
of  the  revered  James.  The  hard  question,  whether 
the  new  privileges  and  blessings  were  worth  the 
growing  cost,  could  no  longer  be  shirked.  And  on 
their  own  premisses  we  can  see  that  the  question  was 
an  open  one.  We  have  seen  how  slightly  marked 
off  from  the  better  Jewish  piety  by  any  matter  of 
principle  was  the  piety  inculcated  in  the  Epistle  of 
James.  And  when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  the- 
ology of  the  Apostolic  Age  this  fact  will  again  meet 
us.  But  in  any  case  it  was  only  in  the  future,  at 
the  Glorious  Return  of  their  Messiah,  Jesus,  that  the 
distinctive  benefits  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom  were 
expected  to  come  into  full  force.  And  so,  having 
but  little  insight  into  the  Grace  of  God  in  Christ 
already  available,  little  innerness  of  Christian  ex- 
perience, they  felt  dispirited  at  the  delay  of  the 
Kingdom's  real  coming :  and  doubt  in  varying  de- 
grees sprang  up.  Was  it  quite  certain  after  all,  that 
the  diviner  life,  which  faith  in  Jesus  had  brought 
them,  was  so  unique  and  self-evidently  Messianic  as 
they   had   once    thought?     Men    began    to    absent 


284  The  Apostolic  Age. 


themselves  from  the  distinctive  meetings  of  the 
brethren,  so  evading  the  reproach  of  the  Cross,  in 
which  they  had  not  learned  to  see  any  glory  (Christ's 
"despising  shame  "  in  relation  to  the  Cross,  is  a  sig- 
nificant reference),  but  also  passively  relapsing  into 
the  average  national  religion. 

What  was  needed,  then,  was  something  more  than 
reminders  of  their  original  grounds  of  belief ;  the 
Resurrection  as  a  fact  that  overbore  all  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  Cross  (itself  a  burden  and  no  inspira- 
tion to  faith);  the  divine  approval  of  the  gospel 
message  by  "  signs,  wonders,  and  varied  powers  and 
Holy  Spirit  gifts  " ;  and  not  least  in  practical  effect, 
the  contagious  faith  and  courage  of  the  original  wit- 
nesses themselves — an  ever-lessening  factor.  No, 
more  was  needed;  something  of  another,  an  in- 
trinsically religious  kind.  And  this  is  exactly  what 
our  author's  insight  into  the  need  and  its  supply, 
enabled  him  to  give  ;  namely,  an  unfolding  of  the 
spiritual  contents,  the  forces  of  grace  and  power, 
latent  in  the  facts  already  known  in  an  external  and 
carnal  way  by  these  Jewish  Christians.  The  great- 
ness of  the  salvation  already  available,  and  not  only 
guaranteed  at  a  future  season,  was  the  true  anti- 
dote to  slackness  of  knee  and  the  absence  of  the 
buoyant  faith  that  is  strong  to  endure.  This  meant, 
first,  an  adequate  appreciation  of  the  transcendent 
Person  of  their  Messiah,  placing  Him  in  an  order  by 
Himself,  above  both  angels,  the  traditional  media  of 
the  giving  of  the  Law  on  the  divine  side,  and  Moses, 
the  human  recipient  of  the  same  for  the  Lord's 
Chosen  People.     And  next  it  meant   a  priesthood 


Warnings  and  Remonstrances.  285 

equally  superior  to  the  Aaronic,  one  typified  by  the 
mysterious  pre-Aaronic  priest-king  of  Salem,  that  is, 
"  Peace."  In  such  a  Messiah  there  was  perfect  pro- 
vision for  access  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  Di- 
vine Presence,  and  that  on  a  permanent  and  abiding 
basis.  Indeed  the  access  contemplated  even  by  the 
Levitical  institutions  was  not  on  the  same  plane  of 
reality  at  all.  Hence  the  idea  of  supplementing  the 
one  with  the  other,  let  alone  falling  back  on  the 
earlier  and  shadowy  as  in  any  sense  sufficient,  was 
not  only  absurd,  it  was  even  blasphemous.  It  did 
double  despite ;  to  the  Priest  who  was  God's  Son, 
and  to  the  Spirit  of  Grace  given  through  Him — of 
whose  excellent  gifts  they  themselves  in  their  ear- 
lier and  better  days  had  had  some  experience.  Let 
them,  then,  take  heed  how  they  treated  this  higher 
and  final  form  of  the  Covenant;  since  the  penalty 
of  apostasy  from  even  the  earlier  form  had  been 
terrible.  For  a  man  deliberately  to  turn  back  to  the 
old  after  experience  of  the  new,  from  the  reality  to 
the  shadow,  would  be  to  declare  one's  own  reproba- 
tion, that  to  him  light  had  become  as  darkness.  And 
such  destruction  of  spiritual  faculty  was  an  irrepa- 
rable thing.  Eet  them  think  again.  Had  the  old 
sacrifices  and  ablutions  been  able  to  cleanse  the  con- 
science? Had  they  been  more  than  symbols  and 
shadows,  taking  effect  primarily  on  the  outer  man, 
and  not  on  the  heart?  Nay,  had  they  not,  by  their 
recurrence,  witnessed  to  their  own  inefficacy  to  re- 
move the  evil  to  which  they  were  as  a  standing 
witness? 

The  writer  is  surprised  at  the  backwardness  of 


286  The  Apostolic  Age. 

their  understanding  in  things  divine,  after  that  time 
enough  had  gone  by  to  admit  of  their  being  masters, 
not  mere  learners,  in  the  things  of  Christ's  religion. 
His  direct  remonstrance  teaches  us  two  things  very 
clearly.  First,  that  the  writer  belonged  to  a  some- 
what different  circle  of  culture  and  Christian  thought 
from  his  readers,  whose  sluggish  dullness,  as  it  seemed 
to  him,  was  mainly  but  the  result  of  a  too  purely  Jew- 
ish tradition  in  which  they  lived  and  moved.  And 
next,  that  we  must  distinguish  between  what  the 
writer  gives  them  of  his  own — to  them  probably 
quite  a  new  view  of  the  Gospel  and  of  its  Author — 
and  what  lie  alludes  to  as  already  recognized  among 
them.  There  two  strands  have  to  be  carefully  kept 
apart  when  we  use  the  epistle  for  historical  purposes. 
And  this  task  is  the  easier,  that  the  writer  has  him- 
self summed  up  the  conception  of  the  average  Ju- 
dreo-Christians  he  has  in  view ;  that  with  which  they 
had  begun,  and  beyond  which  they  had  not  advanced 
toward  spiritual  maturity  of  insight.  It  consisted  of 
"  Repentance  from  dead  works  and  faith  resting  on 
God,"  associated  with  "teaching  touching  ablutions 
(of  various  kinds)  and  the  imposition  of  hands,  re- 
surrection of  the  dead  and  eternal  judgment"  (vi. 
1-3).  A  rudimentary  sort  of  Christian  creed  in- 
deed, and  one  which  would  present  but  a  slight 
barrier  to  the  man  whose  hope  of  Messiah's  return 
had  already  waxed  dim.  Of  course  their  actual  ex- 
perience had  been  far  richer  in  Christian  elements 
than  this  would  seem  to  indicate.  Their  souls  had 
been  strangely  uplifted  and  for  a  time  enlightened 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  at  their    baptism.     In  a  word, 


The  Final  Appeal:  its  Meaning.  287 

they  had  had  foretaste  of  "  powers  of  an  age  soon  to 
dawn  :  "  but  this  had  failed  to  give  rise  to  further 
spiritual  developments,  and  particularly  anything 
like  reflective  appreciation  of  all  it  implied  as  to 
Christ  and  His  relation  to  the  believer.  These  de- 
fects the  writer  sets  himself  to  remedy.  He  warns 
them  most  solemnly  of  the  danger  of  turning  their 
back  on  such  heavenly  experiences  as  they  had  once 
known,  and  assures  them  that  their  Lord  will  in  fact 
return,  and  that  speedily.  For  he  seems  to  feel  in 
the  signs  of  the  times,  especially  in  Judaea,  the  mut- 
terings  of  that  tempest,  wherewith  He  who  had 
spoken  from  heaven  in  His  Son  was  about  to  shake 
all  things  capable  of  shock,  with  a  view  to  the  mani- 
fest establishment  of  that,  eternal  City  for  whose  cit- 
izenship all  the  heroes  of  faith  from  Abel  downward 
had  in  spirit  yearned.  In  that  "  Kingdom  not  to 
be  shaken  "  the  earlier  and  the  latter  saints  alike 
should  find  the  consummation  they  had  welcomed, 
from  afar  or  from  near  at  hand. 

Such  is  the  thrilling  Sursum  Corda  wherewith  this 
prophetic  soul  strives  to  lift  fellow-believers,  and  in 
many  cases  actual  acquaintances,  out  of  their  dis- 
couragement and  doubt.  The  crisis  was  as  momen- 
tous as  it  was  inevitable  in  the  development  of  the 
JudaBO-Christian  consciousness.  It  was  indeed  a 
poignant  necessity,  to  have  to  make  up  the  mind 
to  put  altogether  on  one  side  the  venerable  ritual 
observances  of  ancestral  religion,  a  religion  or- 
dained of  God  amid  the  awful  sanctions  of  Sinai. 
Yet  the  choice  had  to  be  made.  The  parting  of  the 
ways  had  come  both  from  external  and  from  inter- 


■ 

. 

■ 

- 

« 

■ 

' 

9 

to  wl. 

i 

■ 


■ 

- 


■ 

!      ■       ■ 

i  ■;^-<  rs. 

■ 

■  ■ 

■ 

...  .        .  i.  ■ ,     t 

■    .... 

■ 

,      '.U<-     1  in    «.s  •»      I 


290  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

hiding  to  the  death  of  James,  goes  on  to  say  that, 
before  the  Divine  wrath  finally  burst  over  the  Jewish 
nation,  the  rest  of  the  Apostles  were  the  objects  of 
countless  plots  against  their  lives  and  were  in  fact 
forced  to  flee  the  land  of  Judsea,  betaking  themselves 
to  the  Gentile  world.  Quite  probably  it  was  at  this 
epoch  (62-66)  that  John  left  Palestine,  the  headship 
of  the  Jerusalem  Church  falling  to  Symeon,  "  whom 
all  put  forward,"  says  Hegesippus  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, "  as  being  a  blood  relation  of  the  Lord." 

As  to  the  movements  of  Judtean  Christians  we 
gather,  again  from  Eusebius  (probably  on  the  author- 
ity of  Hegesippus),  that  they  were  bidden  by  "  a  certain 
divine  oracle,  given  by  revelation  to1  the  local  leaders 
(lit.  '  men  of  repute  ')  to  remove  before  the  war  from 
the  City  and  inhabit  a  certain  city  of  Persea,  Pella 
by  name."  One  can  hardly  help  connecting  this 
notice  with  the  form  of  the  warning  found  in  Mark 
xiii.  14,  and  so  far  repeated  in  Matt.  xxiv.  15.  "But 
whene'er  ye  see  '  the  abomination  of  desolation '  [the 
Roman  invader]  standing  where  he  ought  not — let 
the  (public)  reader  understand — then  let  them  that 
are  in  Judsea  flee  to  the  Mountains."  Here  we  seem 
to  have  the  warning  in  a  form  vague  as  regards  the 
place  of  refuge,  and  therefore  older  than  that  contem- 
plated by  Eusebius.  Now  the  parenthetical  caution 
to  the  Reader,  common  to  Mark  and  Matthew,  prob- 
ably belonged  to  established  tradition ;  since  Mark, 
who  was  writing  for   Gentiles  far  from   Palestine, 

'The  most  probable  rendering  of  the  Greek  of  Ens.  iii.  5.  3, 
(Ararat  rcva  ^prjff/jLov  to7?  abroOi  do#i'ioi$  dS  anoKakui/'scus  \_£%^\ 
do0(vza  TTpb  zoo  7:oXiij.ou). 


The  Judseo- Christian  Attitude.  291 

would  have  no  end  to  serve  in  inserting  it  of  his  own 
motion,  while  he  might  naturally  adopt  it  from  an 
existing  source.  And  indeed,  we  may  well  wonder 
whether  this  was  not  itself  the  very  form  in  which 
the  warning  before  the  war  went  the  round  of  Judeea 
(and  not  Jerusalem  only).  For  the  vaguer  "to  the 
Mountains  "  (».  e.,  those  nearest  at  hand)  may  well 
have  been  the  cry  upon  which  the  Christians  actually 
went,  when  they  fled  before  the  approach  of  Titus, 
not  like  other  Jews  to  the  doomed  Jerusalem,  but 
to  Israel's  oft-tried  fastnesses  among  the  hills.1  The 
tradition  that  they  were  warned  to  go  to  Pella  may 
have  arisen  later,  from  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Jerusalem  Christians  at  least  were  believed  to  have 
gathered  thither,  possibly  quite  gradually  and  after 
various  wanderings. 

We  have  suggested  that  this  critical  season,  in  66 
A.  D.,  saw  a  sifting,  the  final  sifting  among  the 
Christians  of  Palestine.  But  there  are  signs  that 
the  whole  period  between  62  and  66  was  one  long 
process  of  sifting,  passing  from  the  milder  form  of 
scourging,  imprisonment,  loss  of  goods  (when  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  written),  to  the  death 
penalty  implied  in  Mark  xiii.  12  f.  and  parallels. 
For  the  bitterness  of  feeling  involved  not  only  in 
their  being  universally  hated  for  the  name  of  Jesus 

'"The  Central  range  in  Judah  and  Ephraim  formed  Israel's 
most  constant  sanctuary";  and  in  Judaea  (used  by  Mark  in  its 
narrower  sense)  "the  Mountains"  were  far  more  distinct  from 
the  lower  uplands  or  downs  (the  Shephelah),  than  those  in  Sa- 
maria from  the  corresponding  country.  Hence  the  greater  isola- 
tion and  safety  of  the  former,  especially  in  the  wildest  parts  about 
Hebron  (see  G.  A.  Smith's  Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land). 


292  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  Christ  (in  contrast  to  the  favor  of  the  populace 
in  the  earlier  days  of  Acts),  but  also  in  the  betrayal  of 
believers  by  their  own  nearest  and  dearest,  can  be 
adequately  explained  only  by  the  strength  of  the 
"  patriotic  "  movement,  rising  to  its  climax  between 
62  and  66  A.  D.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  in 
the  earlier  part  of  this  period  (62-64)  the  building 
of  the  Temple  was  finally  completed,  a  fact  of  much 
religious  promise  in  Jewish  eyes.  Accordingly  not 
a  few  Jewish  believers  may  have  been  reabsorbed 
by  the  patriotic  excitement  of  the  moment,  into  or- 
dinary Judaism  of  the  sincerer  order.  Some,  on  the 
other  hand,  may  have  anticipated  the  decision  of 
their  recognized  leaders  as  to  the  season  of  with- 
drawal from  fellowship  with  the  national  cause  and 
religion.  Such  may  have  withdrawn  individually,  at 
different  moments  in  the  unfolding  of  the  drama, 
and  taken  up  their  abode  with  the  brethren  in  the 
safer  districts.  They  would  naturally  belong  to  the 
less  national  and  more  liberal  side  of  Judaean  Chris- 
tianity, that  largely  composed  of  the  Hellenists  re- 
ferred to  in  Acts  vi.  1  ff  :  and  accordingly  might  be 
expected  to  betake  themselves,  by  an  instinctive 
selective  affinity,  to  the  mixed  communities  of 
Jewish  and  Gentile  believers  on  the  coast-lands  and 
in  Samaria,  rather  than  to  those  of  the  more  purely 
Jewish  inland  regions.  Such  a  circumstance  would 
serve  to  explain  how  the  final  exodus,  when  at  last 
it  took  place,  involved  a  body  of  people  no  larger 
than  was  able  to  find  a  home  in  the  comparatively 
small  city  of  Pella,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Agrippa 
II.,  who   sided  with  the  Romans.     This  semi-foreign 


Christians  in   Galilee.  293 

place,  lying  on  the  northwestern  border  of  Perrea 
and  looking  out  from  sloping  ground  across  the 
Jordan  valley  a  few  miles  south  of  Bethabara, 
ranked  as  one  of  the  Greek  cities  known  collectively 
as  Decapolis.  And  the  bare  fact  that  these  Jeru- 
salem refugees  chose  to  live  there  at  all,  implies  that 
they  were  not  of  the  most  exclusive  wing  of  Judeeo- 
Christians.  And  this  is  important,  seeing  that  they 
presumably  included  the  leaders  of  the  Jerusalem 
church  referred  to  by  Eusebius. 

As  to  the  fact  that  we  hear  so  little  about  Chris- 
tianity in  a  quarter  where  we  should  have  expected 
to  hear  much  of  it,  namely  Galilee,  the  home  of  the 
Gospel  and  its  most  congenial  soil,  the  prime  reason 
is  also  to  be  sought  in  the  Jewish  war.  Not  only 
did  the  brunt  of  Cestius'  brief  campaign  in  autumn 
66  fall  on  Galilee,  but  it  was  simply  deluged  with 
blood  during  the  bitter  war  of  extermination  waged 
by  Vespasian  and  Titus  through  the  greater  part  of 
67,  against  the  stubborn  hardihood  of  the  northern 
population.  Here  too  the  Christians  probably  took 
warning  betimes;  if  not  before  the  approach  of 
Cestius,  then  surely  before  that  of  Vespasian.  They 
went  to  swell  the  communities  which  we  know  later 
to  have  existed  in  large  numbers  east  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  in  the  rugged,  upland  regions  extending  to 
the  Hauran,  whence  come  the  bulk  of  surviving 
Judoeo-Christian  inscriptions.  Some,  too,  would  find 
on  the  Phoenician  coast  the  easiest  places  of  refuge, 
reinforcing  the  mixed  Christian  communities  there 
in  existence.  In  Coesarea  we  may  even  imagine  the 
two  streams  of  refugees,  the  Judtean  and  the  Galilean, 


294  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

meeting  and  blending  in  the  larger  and  freer  life  of 
its  composite  church. 

Whatever  be  thought  of  these  possibilities,  it  is 
certain  that  the  local  distribution  and  development 
of  Judyeo-Christianity  was  enormously  modified  by 
the  War  of  66-70.  These  changes  must  for  the 
most  part  have  resulted  in  a  diminution  of  strict 
Judueo- Christians,  though  by  isolating  them  in  out- 
of-the-way  places  the  crisis  may  have  made  these 
stricter  than  ever.  By  such  the  victorious  progress 
of  the  Churches  of  the  Uncircumcision  would  be 
watched,  as  from  the  outside,  with  a  resentment  that 
bitterly  contrasted  the  strangely  hard  lot  of  them- 
selves, as  of  their  nation,  and  brooded  over  the  post- 
ponement of  the  true  Messianic  Kingdom.  This 
cannot,  however,  have  been  the  case  with  the  main 
body  of  Jerusalem  Christians  gathered  at  Pella, 
since  the  place  chosen  was  one  of  a  semi-Gentile 
character.  The  traditions  of  James  and  others  like- 
minded  probably  prevailed  among  them ;  and  the 
logic  of  facts  must,  by  70  A.  D.,  have  taught  them 
the  lesson  which  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  had  al- 
ready unfolded.  And  these  presumptions  are  borne 
out  by  the  impression  of  this  community  which 
Eusebius  had  gleaned  from  older  writers,  such  as 
Hegesippus  and  Ariston  of  Pella. 

Though  the  time  of  its  actual  return  to  the  ruined 
Jerusalem  is  unknown  (it  was  probably  only  very 
gradual),  yet  between  that  time  and  the  Second  Jew- 
ish War  under  Barcochba  in  133-135,  there  seems  to 
have  been  a  recognizable  succession  of  leaders — whose 
names  survived  in  writing  to  Eusebius'  day — touch- 


Roman  Suspicion  of  the  Messianic  Hope.     295 


ing  whose  religious  position  later  Christian  opinion 
had  no  misgivings.  This  does  not  mean  that  they 
were  not  still  highly  Jewish  in  their  theology  and  per- 
sonal usages :  but  it  does  mean  that  they  were  in 
communion  with  Gentile  Christianity  and  were  not 
exclusive  in  their  attitude  to  uncircumcised  Chris- 
tians, as  were  the  stricter  sort  later  known  as  Ebion- 
ites.  These  latter  would  be  the  successors  of  the 
more  sequestered  communities  already  mentioned, 
who  probably  fraternized  at  an  early  date  with  the 
kindred  Jewish  sect  of  the  Essenes,  whose  settle- 
ments about  the  Dead  Sea  would  be  a  natural  resort 
for  other  outcasts  from  orthodox  Judaism.  Some 
fusion  of  their  tendencies  probably  explains  the 
curious  Elkesaite  type  of  Judreo-Christianity  which 
meets  us  in  the  second  century. 

No  doubt  the  relations  between  Jews  and  Jewish 
Christians  became  increasingly  strained  after  A.  D. 
70.  But  we  have  here  few  historical  data  to  go 
upon.1  The  most  definite  piece  of  information  re- 
lates to  the  part  played  by  certain  Jewish  partisans 
in  trying  to  smite  these  hated  heretics  (Minim)  with 
the  strong  hand  of  the  conqueror.  Naturally  Ves- 
pasian was  anxious  to  prevent  further  trouble  arising 
from  the  Messianic  hope.  So  he  caused  inquisition 
to  be  made  for  all  of  the  Davidic  stock,  a  step  in 
which  he  was  later  followed  by  Domitian.  In  the 
latter  case  "  certain  sectaries,"  probably  members  of 

1  A  probable  reference,  whicb  certainly  belongs  to  70-100  A.  D., 
i3  fonud  in  tbe  later  part  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Baruch  (xli.-xlii.). 
Those  "  who  have  withdrawn  from  Thy  covenant  and  cast  from 
them  the  yoke  of  Thy  Law,"  and  "  mingled  themselves  with  the 
seed  of  mingled  peoples,"  have  no  hope  in  the  Coming  Age. 


296  The  Apostolic  Age. 

one  or  more  of  the  seven  Jewish  sects  which  Hege- 
sippus  elsewhere  counts  up,  denounced  the  grandsons 
of  Jude,  the  Lord's  brother,  as  of  Davidic  descent. 
Domitian  soon  satisfied  himself  by  an  interview 
with  these  horny-handed  peasants  that  they  were  not 
of  the  kind  to  disturb  his  empire,1  and  dismissed 
them  to  their  homes.  On  their  return  they  enjoyed 
yet  greater  prestige  than  before  among  the  Palestin- 
ian churches,  as  being  not  only  the  Lord's  kinsmen 
but  now  also  tried  "  witnesses."  Somewhat  later  a 
similar  accusation,  probably  from  the  same  quarter, 
actually  caused  the  martyrdom  of  Symeon,  also  a 
kinsman  of  the  Lord  and  James'  successor  in  the  re- 
gard of  the  Jerusalem  Church.  He  suffered  on  a 
charge  laid  before  the  Roman  governor  Atticus,  in 
Trajan's  reign,  that  he  was  at  once  of  Davidic  race 
and  a  Christian. 

Consecutiveness  of  thought  has  carried  us  beyond 
the  age  of  transition  in  the  narrower  sense  with 
which  we  started  (62-70),  the  age  for  which  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  our  great  witness  in  the 
New  Testament  as  regards  Palestinian  Christianity. 
We  return  then  to  consider  the  same  age  as  it  affected 
Churches  outside  Palestine. 

'If  we  may  trust  Hegesippns'  language  (Eus.  iii.  20),  their 
statement  that  "Messiah's  Kingdom"  was  "not  of  this  world  or 
earthly,  but  heavenly  and  angelic"  seems  to  imply  some  modifi- 
cation of  the  Judseo-Christian  hope  touching  the  earthly  realiza- 
tion of  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ASIA   MINOR   AND   FIRST   PETER. 

|F  we  are  right  in  dating  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  about  62  A.  D.,  rather  than  on 
the  very  eve  of  the  Jewish  War  in  66, 
little  more  than  a  year  can  have  elapsed 
before  another  Epistle  of  counsel  and 
cheer  crossed  the  seas  from  the  same  quarter  of  the 
world  and  began  to  circulate  among  an  equally  im- 
portant group  of  readers.  This  time  Rome  itself  was 
the  place  of  despatch,  and  the  Christians  scattered 
through  the  larger  part  of  Asia  Minor  were  the  re- 
cipients. Nor  is  the  letter  anonymous.  Its  author 
was  the  Apostle  Peter,  who  thus  comes  once  more 
upon  the  scene  after  being  lost  to  our  sight  for  some 
fourteen  years,  dating  from  the  Jerusalem  Confer- 
ence in  49. 

Of  his  intervening  movements  Acts  gives  no  hints. 
Nor  can  anything  be  gathered  from  St.  Paul's  letters, 
save  the  fact  that  Peter  used  to  go  on  missionary 
journeys  of  considerable  duration ;  for  he  was  wont 
to  take  his  wife  along  with  him — a  practice  usual 
with  the  Apostles  and  brethren  of  the  Lord  (1  Cor. 
ix.  5).  But,  as  his  Epistle  itself  informs  us,  he  is 
now  in  Rome,  referred  to  under  the  name  of  "  Baby- 
lon " — probably  for  safety's  sake.  His  arrival  must 
have  been  subsequent  to  Paul's  two  years'  imprison- 
ment, since  neither  mentions  the  other  in  writing, 

297 


298  The  Apostolic  Age. 

while  Mark  is  named  by  both  as  their  personal  helper 
(1  Pet.  v.  12, 13).  Besides,  the  use  of  the  hated  name 
"  Babylon  "  suggests  that  Christians  had  already  suf- 
fered there — a  state  of  things  which  is  less  likely 
prior  to  Paul's  visit,  but  which  would  be  natural  if 
Paul  had  already  been  martyred  c.  61-62.  Indeed 
the  crisis  felt  to  have  been  reached  in  an  event  so 
startling  to  Christians  at  large,  as  an  index  of  the 
State's  attitude  to  their  religion,  would  best  explain 
why  Peter,  a  Galilean  Jew,  should  come  to  Rome 
at  all.  Perhaps  he  had  been  sought  out  and  brought 
thither  by  Mark,  who  had  recently  been  in  Paul's 
company. 

While  it  is  unlikely  that  Peter  and  Paul  were  in 
Rome  at  the  same  time,  the  fact  that  Peter  names  as 
with  him  two  companions  of  Paul  casts  most  valuable 
light  on  his  own  position  and  work  in  the  Church  dur- 
ing years  of  silence.  He  was  no  longer  the  typical 
head  of  the  Judsean  Church '  (a  position  to  which 
James  had  completely  succeeded  years  before),  but 
rather  of  the  wider  Judseo-Christian  mission,  whose 
basis  was  the  Diaspora  (especially  of  North  Syria  and 
Asia  Minor)  but  which  also  embraced  in  varying 
proportions  Gentiles  as  well.  Peter's  genius  was 
not  of  the  doctrinaire  or  inflexible  type :  he  was 
sensitive  to  the  teachings  of  divine  facts ;  and  the 

'This  fact  probably  explains  the  order  in  which  Clemeut  of 
Alexandria,  following  some  Jndseo-Christian  authority,  refers  to 
the  inner  Apostolic  circle.  "To  James  the  Just  and  John  and 
Peter  did  the  Lord  give  the  true  knowledge  (rrjv  yvuxjiv).  These 
handed  it  on  to  the  rest  of  the  apostles;  and  the  rest  of  the 
apostles  to  the  Seventy,  of  whom  Barnabas  was  one  "  (Eus.  ii.  1) 
— a  tradition  of  uo  strict  historical  worth. 


Peter's  Leanings  toward  Paul.  299 

success  of  the  Pauline  mission,  so  much  greater  than 
could  have  been  imagined  when  the  early  under- 
standing1 as  to  division  of  labor  in  two  distinctive 
missions  (Gal.  ii.  9)  was  reached,  must  have  greatly- 
enlarged  and  confirmed  his  own  more  liberal  estimate 
of  the  scope  of  Messiah's  Kingdom  (cf.  Acts  x.  34  f.). 
Nor  must  we  ignore  his  twofold  advantage  over  even 
James.  He  had  been  a  personal  disciple  of  Jesus 
and  had  drunk  in  more  of  His  universalism,  His  re- 
gard for  man  as  man  in  the  sight  of  the  heavenly- 
Father,  which  contained  the  seed  of  all  that  Paul 
had  taught  or  could  teach  about  the  breaking  down 
of  "  the  middle  wall  of  division  "  between  the  Jew 
and  humanity  at  large.  Then  again,  not  being  con- 
fined by  his  work  to  Jerusalem,  he  had  more  experi- 
ence of  the  gospel's  ampler  bearings.  Two  readings  of 
its  bearing,  at  any  rate  until  the  King's  own  return 
should  settle  all  such  problems,  were  possible  to  men 
agreeing  in  essentials  during  that  time  of  transition 
when  the  old  order  lived  on  by  the  side  of  the  new,  not 
as  yet  abrogated  by  any  distinct  Divine  intimation. 
And  so  Peter,  as  his  experience  of  the  larger  reading 
extended,  grew  more  and  more  toward  Paul's  atti- 
tude and  practice,  and  more  away  from  the  traditions 
of  the  Jerusalem  community'.  And  this  is  why  tra- 
dition does  not  connect  his  name  closely  with  Pales- 
tinian Christianity. 

Hence  we  may  assume  an  approximation  to  Paul 

■Not  made  with  a  view  to  perpetuity,  but  provisionally,  i.  e, 
until  the  near  Parousia  should  adjust  all  things.  The  postpone- 
ment of  this  hope  changed  the  perspective  of  many  things,  a  fact 
too  often  forgotten. 


300  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

as  going  on  during  the  years  of  silence,  as  Peter 
watched  Paul's  successes,  and  as  he  himself  saw  the 
problems  touching  the  relation  of  Jew  and  Gentile 
in  the  new  Ecclesia  solve  themselves  in  the  course 
of  his  own  missionary  work.  This  we  may  guess  to 
have  lain  partly  in  Palestine,  outside  Judsea  and 
particularly  in  Galilee ;  partly,  and  at  a  later  time 
further  north,  in  northern  Syria ;  and  finally  along 
the  Eastern  side  of  Asia  Minor  up  to  Pontus  and 
Bithynia,1  Jewish  centres  being  visited  in  each  case. 
Cappadocian  and  Pontic  Jews  are  in  fact  mentioned 
as  present  at  Peter's  Sermon  in  Acts  ii.  It  would 
then  be  natural  for  Peter  to  visit  them,  while  Paul's 
lieutenants,  such  as  Silas,  were  extending  the  Paul- 
ine mission  northeast  from  provincial  Asia.  Aquila's 
connection  with  Pontus  is  suggestive  of  a  Pauline 
mission  in  that  quarter,  especially  through  the  great 
port  of  Sinope".  Opinions  may  vary  as  to  whether 
the  Epistle  betrays  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
actual  conditions  of  society  in  the  regions  addressed. 
But  it  is  a  plausible  view  that  Peter,  having  had 
some  personal  relations  with  at  least  the  non-Pauline 
provinces  in  question,  was  sought  out  in  Rome  by 
Silas,  in  order  to  throw  his  weighty  influence  into 
the  scale  at  a  critical  season.  The  occasion  was  the 
outbreak  of  a  persecuting  spirit,  instigated  in  large 
part  by  the  Jews,  to  whom  Paul's  conviction  and 
death  would  be  of  good  omen  as  to  the  imperial 
policy   touching    Christians.     For    local    governors 

'This  hypothesis,  iu  itself  rather  suggested  by  his  Epistle,  has 
some  inherent  likelihood,  geographical  and  otherwise  Yet  he 
may  not  have  gone  beyond  Syria. 


He  Counsels  Patience.  301 

would  take  their  cue  from  the  emperor's  conduct, 
and  would  look  with  no  friendly  eye  on  men  who, 
when  accused  before  them  of  specific  crime,  were 
found  to  labor  also  under  the  imputation  of  belong- 
ing to  a  seditious  kind  of  religious  fraternity.  The 
Epistle,  indeed,  suggests  that  the  charges  came  as  a 
rule  from  their  neighbors,  masters  as  well  as  a  man's 
equals ;  nor  did  they  generally  take  formal  shape, 
rather  than  that  of  verbal  and  social  persecution. 
Yet  the  other  kind  of  case  was  arising,  and  consti- 
tuted "  a  fiery  trial  "  for  which  the  converts  were 
asking  an  explanation.  Peter  is  aware  of  similar 
phenomena  in  other  parts  of  the  world  and  urges 
this  as  part  of  his  appeal  for  steadfastness.  But  he 
believes  that  in  most  cases  the  persecuting  spirit 
rests  on  a  misconstruction  of  the  Christian  ideal, 
the  aloofness  and  clannishness  of  the  brethren  being 
held  indicative  of  a  morality  that  shunned  the  light 
of  day.1  For  the  intensity  of  their  new  comradeship 
made  them  seem  the  more  anti-social  to  those  that 
were  outside. 

The  sum  of  his  counsel,  then,  is  to  live  down 
calumny  in  the  power  of  the  faith  and  inspiring  ex- 
ample of  Christ.  To  this  object  the  structure  of  the 
Epistle  itself  bears  witness.  It  is  throughout  horta- 
tory. But  the  first  of  the  three  parts  into  which  it 
readily  falls  (marked  by  the  direct  appeal,  "  Beloved,'' 
at  ii.  11  and  iv.  12)  aims  at  lifting  the  readers' 
thoughts  into  the  highest  realm  of  religious  faith. 

JCf.  Tacitus,  Ann.  xv.  44,"  men  hated  for  outrageous  deeds 
and  popularly  styled  '  Christ's  faction '"  {Christian^  like  Pom- 
peiani,  "  Pompey's  partisans  "). 


302  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Let  them  stay  their  hearts  on  the  gracious  will  of 
God  Himself  in  calling  them  as  part  of  His  elect 
People,  His  peculiar  possession,  the  heirs  of  all  the 
great  traditions  of  Old  Testament  promise  and 
prophecy.  Then  it  will  be  but  natural  to  them  to 
cheerfully  renounce  all  heathen  ways  of  living  and 
transform  all  social  duties  in  the  power  of  calm 
but  exultant  faith.  This  in  turn  will  speedily  re- 
move much  of  the  prejudice  which  lies  at  the  root 
of  the  trials  they  are  enduring,  while  meantime 
they  will  even  glory  in  their  sufferings  as  the  lot 
of  the  Christ-life,  whether  in  the  Christ  or  in  His 
Church. 

The  churches,  so  addressed,  were  formed  of  men 
who  had  for  the  most  part  once  been  heathen, 
though  some  doubtless  had  been  proselytes  to  Juda- 
ism before  the  Gospel  reached  them.  For  it  is 
"  morally  certain  that  in  many  places  the  nucleus  of 
the  Christian  congregation  would  be  derived  from 
the  Jewish  congregation,  to  which  it  was  St.  Paul's 
habit  to  preach  first."  But  the  important  point  is 
to  notice  how  "  St.  Peter  applies  to  the  whole  body 
of  the  Asiatic  Churches,  Gentiles  and  Jews  alike, 
the  language  which  in  the  Old  Testament  describes 
the  prerogatives  of  God's  ancient  people.  The  truth 
is  that  St.  Peter,  as  doubtless  every  other  apostle, 
regarded  the  Christian  Church  as  first  and  foremost 
the  true  Israel  of  God,  the  one  legitimate  heir  of  the 
promises  made  to  Israel,  the  one  community  which 
by  receiving  Israel's  Messiah  had  remained  true  to 
Israel's  covenant " — as  understood  by  the  greater 
prophets — "  while  the  unbelieving  Jews  in  refusing 


His  Debt  to  the  Pauline  Ejiistles.  303 

their  Messiah  had  in  effect  apostatized  from  Israel.1 
This  point  of  view  was  not  in  the  least  weakened  by 
the  admission  of  Gentile  Christians  in  any  number 
or  proportion.  In  St.  Paul's  words  they  were  but 
branches  grafted  in  upon  the  one  ancient  olive  tree 
of  God." 

The  reference  to  Paul  in  these  words,  in  which 
Dr.  Hort  practically  settles  the  debate  touching  the 
readers,  leads  us  to  notice  one  of  the  most  striking 
features  in  this  striking  epistle.  I  mean  its  clear  in- 
debtedness to  two  at  least  of  the  Pauline  epistles, 
Romans  and  Ephesians,  epistles  which,  as  having 
close  connection  with  the  Roman  Church  and  as 
being  general  rather  than  personal  in  character, 
were  most  likely  to  be  studied  by  his  brother  apostle. 
Such  dependence  was  not  of  the  nature  of  servile 
borrowing.  Peter's  epistle  "is  certainly  full  of 
Pauline  language  and  ideas :  but  it  also  differs  from 
St.  Paul's  writings  both  positively  and  negatively, 
i.  e.y  both  in  the  addition  of  fresh  elements  and  in  the 
omission  of  Pauline  elements."  The  Petrine  speeches 
in  the  Acts  shine  through  constantly;  and  even 
where  he  uses  an  idea  that  does  not  happen  to  oc- 
cur in  these,  such  as  the  favorite  Pauline  term  "  the 
flesh,"  he  gives  it  a  slight  turn  of  his  own  (e.  g.,  iv. 
1).  But  the  use  in  question  not  only  shows  that 
Peter  was  able  to  graft  deeper  Pauline  thoughts 
upon  his  own  fundamental  conceptions ;  it  also  war- 
rants important  historical  inferences.     Peter  had  a 

'Compare  the  strong  words  of  John's  Apocalypse,  touching 
"  them  who  say  they  are  Jews,  and  they  are  not,  but  are  a  syna- 
gogue of  Satan  "  (ii.  9,  iii.  9). 


304:  The  Apostolic  Age. 

set  purpose  in  utilizing  to  such  an  extent  Pauline 
phraseology.  He  was  addressing  in  the  same  breath 
churches  both  of  the  Judseo-Christian  and  of  the 
Pauline  mission,1  and  naturally  wished  to  show  the 
latter  even  by  the  form  of  his  pastoral  address  how 
thoroughly  at  one  with  their  apostle  he  was. 

But  we  can  hardly  imagine  Peter  claiming  the  ear 
of  the  Pauline  churches,  without  a  word  of  explana- 
tion, during  Paul's  lifetime.  Therefore  once  more 
we  reach  our  former  conclusion  that  Paul  was  al- 
ready martyred  by  62-63  A.  D.  The  mention  too  of 
Silas,  probably  Paul's  companion,  as  the  bearer  of 
the  epistle 2  strongly  suggests  a  growing  homo- 
geneity between  the  Pauline  churches  and  those  of 
other  type  among  the  Diaspora.  For  some  reason 
or  other  Silas  seems  to  have  intended  to  begin  his 
tour  through  the  regions  in  question  from  some  port 
in  Pontus,  probably  Sinope",  then  a  Roman  colonia 
with  a  great  trade.  As  this  was  not  the  nearest  or 
most  natural  point  at  which  to  land  in  Asia  Minor, 
we  may  suppose  that  there  was  an  inherent  fitness 
in  the  order  of  his  ideal  progress  from  Pontus, 
through    northeast   Galatia,3  Cappadocia,  and  Asia, 

1  This  is  the  most  probable  view,  since  tbe  five  provinces  named 
practically  cover  "  Asia  witbin  the  Taurus,"  to  use  Strabo's  accu- 
rate phrase  for  tbe  bulk  of  Asia  Minor. 

'Perhaps  be  bad  also  a  band  in  its  literary  form,  since  the  style 
is  not  Mark's,  while  its  comparative  purity  is  not  what  one 
would  expect  of  a  Galilseau  fisherman  (even  though  we  regard 
the  tradition  that  Mark  acted  as  his  interpreter  (£p/iy]veuT7]s)  as 
applying  to  bis  ignorance  of  Latin  rather  tban  Greek). 

8  If  the  South  Galatian  Churcbes  were  included,  it  would  be 
more  natural  for  Galatia  to  follow  rather  than  precede  Cappa- 
docia. 


Peter  and  Paul  in  Rome.  305 

ending  up  with  Bithynia.  Unless,  then,  the  order 
was  fixed  by  the  relative  severity  of  persecution  in 
the  Pontic  region,  we  cannot  but  connect  it  with 
something  in  the  writer's  previous  relations  with  the 
churches  in  that  quarter,  churches  possibly  more 
Jewish  in  origin  than  those  of  Asia.1 

In  all  this  it  is  assumed  that  Peter  did  visit  Rome 
in  his  last  days.  This  is  sometimes  doubted,  but 
needlessly.  For  besides  the  cryptic  reference  to 
Rume  as  "Babylon  "  in  the  postscript,  we  have  evi- 
dence to  the  same  effect  in  Ignatius  {Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  "not  as  Peter  and  Paul  do  I  lay  charge  on 
you")  and  yet  more  fully  in  Clement  of  Rome  (96 
A.  D.). 

This  writer  having  given  ancient  instances  of  the 
evils  wrought  by  jealousy  (C^.o?),  appeals  to  those 
of  quite  recent  date,  even  of  his  own  generation. 
And  as  cases  of  "  conflict  even  unto  death  "  owing 
to  "jealousy  and  envy,"  he  sets  before  his  readers' 
eyes  "the  good  apostles"  (note  this  affectionate 
familiarity).  First  "Peter,  who  by  reason  of  un- 
righteous jealousy  endured  not  one  nor  two  but 
many  (nkelova^)  labors,  and  thus,  having  borne  his 
testimony  (fiapTupyjaas),  went  to  his  due  place  of 
glory."  Then  follows  the  case  of  Paul,  due  likewise 
to  "jealousy  and  strife."  And  that  both  these  suf- 
fered in  the  same  place,  namely  Rome,  seems  implied 

•A  confirmation  of  this  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the  violently 
anti-Judaic  Christianity  of  Marcion  of  Sinope  about  120-140  A.  D. 
If  we  suppose  that  Peter's  letter  was  in  response  to  an  appeal  for 
counsel,  this  again  points  to  a  like  conclusion,  namely  the  existence 
of  some  special  link  between  him  and  the  churches  first  named  in 
the  address. 


306  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

in  what  at  once  follows,  i.  e.,  that  "  unto  these  men 
of  holy  lives  was  gathered  l  a  vast  multitude  of  elect 
ones,  such  as  suffered  many  indignities  and  tortures 
by  reason  of  jealousy  and  set  a  splendid  example 
among  ourselves."  Further,  Clement,  who  seems  to 
know  more  than  Acts  relates  of  persecutions  that 
befell  Peter,  hints  that  his  footsteps  were  dogged  by 
"  unjust  jealousy,"  which  in  keeping  with  the  con- 
text (where  the  "jealousy"  is  between  people  with 
close  mutual  ties)  may  best  refer  to  the  action  of  his 
compatriots,  the  Jews.  If  this  be  a  well-grounded 
suggestion,  we  gather  that  Peter  could  be  regarded 
by  strict  Jews  as  "  an  apostate  "  from  Judaism  sub- 
sequent to  the  date  at  which  Acts  dismisses  him. 
Perhaps  even,  it  was  Jewish  spite  which  brought  him 
under  Nero's  notice  befure  or  at  the  time  of  the  car- 
nage in  the  late  summer  of  64  A.  D. ;  for  to  the  like 
cause  Clement  assigns  the  sufferings  of  the  Roman 
Christians ;  and  such  emphasis  on  the  phrase  in 
question  seems  warranted  by  its  use  in  Paul's  case. 
But  that  Peter  was  martyred  somewhere  is  clearly 
implied  in  John  xxi.  19:  and  no  church  save  Rome 
claimed  to  be  the  scene  of  martyrdom.  Beautiful 
and  characteristic  of  his  loyal  and  loving  nature  is 
the  story  of  his  end  as  given  by  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria.    "  They  say  that  the  blessed  Peter,  when  he 

1  This  surely  fixes  the  deaths  of  Paul  and  Peter  as  at  least  not 
later  than  the  barbarous  Neronian  outbreak  of  64,  and  thus  con- 
firms the  inference  (1)  that  Clement  knew  of  no  Pauline  release 
from  Rome,  (2)  that  Peter's  epistle  falls  before  autumn  64.  That 
Peter's  death  is  named  first  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  hav- 
ing had  the  last  apostolic  word,  as  it  were,  he  had  left  a  deeper 
impression  on  the  Roman  Church,  in  which  we  know  that  Paul 
had  felt  himself  a  good  deal  isolated. 


Peter's  Faith  and  Death.  307 

beheld  his  own  wife  being  led  forth  to  death,  re- 
joiced by  reason  of  her  'calling'  and  her  going  home, 
and  called  to  her  right  encouragingly  and  comfort- 
ably, addressing  her  by  name  with  the  words,  '  Re- 
member, O  thou,  the  Lord.'  " 

Good  right  had  such  a  man  to  send  words  of  faith 
and  cheer  to  others  hard  bestead,  saying:  "Beloved, 
take  not  as  strange  the  fiery  ordeal  going  on  among 
you,  sent  to  try  you,  as  though  a  strange  thing  were 
befalling  you.  But  inasmuch  as  ye  are  partakers  in 
the  sufferings  of  the  Christ,  rejoice;  that  at  the 
revealing  also  of  His  glory  ye  may  rejoice  with  exul- 
tation. If  ye  are  being  vilified  for  the  name  of 
Christ,  blessed  are  ye  ;  because  the  Spirt  of  Glory 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  resteth  on  you.  Let  not,  then, 
any  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or  a  thief,  or  an  evil- 
doer, or  as  a  meddler  in  other  men's  business :  but  if 
as  'a  Christian,'  let  him  not  be  ashamed,  but  let 
him  glorify  God  in  this  name.  .  .  .  Wherefore 
let  them  also  that  suffer  according  to  God's  will 
commit  to  a  faithful  Creator  the  safe-keeping  of 
their  lives,  in  well-doing."  The  situation  presup- 
posed is  that  of  a  time  when  persecution,  following 
on  calumny  (ii.  12,  iii.  16,  iv.  4,  14),  is  beginning  to 
be  severely  felt  by  Christians  at  large,  "the  brother- 
hood in  the  world  "  (v.  9),  as  well  as  in  the  provinces 
in  question  (i.  6,  7,  iii.  14-17,  iv.  12-19).  And  this 
determines  the  aspect  of  "  the  Grace  of  God  "  which 
the  writer  emphasizes  (v.  12b ) ;  viz,  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  as  at  once  an  example  and  something  to  be 
shared  by  His  followers  (iv.  13,  cf.  iii.  18),  whether 
in  steadfastness  in  the  Christian  life  of  well-doing 


308  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

(ii.  12,  16),  the  witness  of  their  profession  (iii.  8,  9, 
iv.  4,  cf.  ii.  15,  16),  or  in  self-denial  as  regards  the 
works  of  the  flesh  (iv.  1-4,  cf.  ii.  11,  16).  So  shall 
they  be  qualified  to  share  in  the  glory  that  is  the  due 
sequel  of  Messianic  suffering  (i.  11,  ii.  20  £f.,  iii.  9,  iv. 
19).  In  these  trying  times  the  beginning  of  the 
season  of  Judgment,  ushering  in  the  future  age,  is  to 
be  discerned  (iv.  17,  18).  The  end  of  all  things  is  at 
hand.  Sobriety  and  watchfulness  is  the  temper 
meet  for  the  hour  when  their  great  Adversary  is 
abroad,  ravening  for  his  prey,  ere  his  term  of  world- 
power  shall  finally  expire.  Yet  in  the  naive  con- 
fidence that  well-doing  must  as  a  rule  shield  the 
Christians  from  ill-treatment  (iii.  13,  yet  see  iv.  12), 
and  in  the  command  to  obey  human  institutions, 
whether  emperor  or  his  officers  as  being  sent  to  do 
justice  according  to  desert,  and  to  "honor  the  King" 
(ii.  13,  14,  17), — in  all  this,  as  contrasted  with  the 
fierce  resentment  of  Rome's  injustice  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, one  may  well  discern  signs  of  a  date  prior  l 
to  "  the  bath  of  blood  "  in  64,  which  so  horrified  the 
Christian  consciousness.  And  it  is  probable  that  it 
was  in  this  very  carnival  of  cruelty  that  Peter  met 
his  end,  the  story  of  his  crucifixion  head  downward 
sounding  quite  like  a  piece  of  the  "  mockery  "  in 
which  Nero  indulged.  Even  the  tradition  that  Peter 
suffered  on  the  Vatican  Hill  suits  this  same  occasion. 

1  With  this  well  agrees  the  simplicity  of  the  picture  given  of 
the  Christian  communities.  The  organization  is  that  of  the  syn- 
agogue, "elders  "  exercising  a  shepherd's  oversight  of  the  younger 
members  of  the  flock.  Ministering  to  the  needy  is  the  common 
personal  duty  of  all  who  had  the  means  (iv.  10).  As  to  the 
"liberty  of  prophesying,"  the  one  rule  is,  "if  any  man  speak, 
let  him  speak  as  uttering  oracles  of  God  "  (iv.  11). 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NORTH    SYRIA   AND   THE   DIDACHE. 

1BOUT  the  time  when  the  leaders  of  the 
first  generation  began  to  pass  rapidly  off 
the  scene,  while  the  Lord's  expected 
return  was  from  year  to  year  unaccount- 
ably delayed,  a  serious  practical  crisis 
arose,  and  abuses  in  conduct  began  to  become  more 
rife  as  the  love  of  many  began  to  wax  cold.  For, 
indeed,  the  motive  of  awful  expectancy,  directed 
toward  a  coming  that  might  happen  at  any  moment, 
had  been  a  mighty,  though  rather  external,  restraint 
put  upon  the  human  passions.  And  when  its  ten- 
sion relaxed  somewhat,  there  was  a  return  of  the  old 
man,  especially  where  Faith  had  had  too  little  vitality 
to  transform  current  Messianic  notions  by  a  vivid 
impression  of  Jesus,  with  His  unique  personal  spell, 
as  the  true  Messiah.  When  this  crisis  began  to 
press  upon  Syrian  Christianity,  a  fresh  edition  of  the 
"  Two  Ways  "  was  felt  to  be  needed,  giving  among 
other  things  instruction  on  the  Parousia  question,  as 
truth  for  the  times. 

Here  we  are  not  left  to  mere  conjecture.  Com- 
parison of  the  various  documents  in  which  the 
M  Two  Ways  "  is  now  seen  to  survive,  itself  proves 
that  the  work   underwent   several   revisions,  fresh 

309 


310  The  Apostolic  Age. 

matter  of  kindred  kind  being  gradually  added.1 
This  was  indeed  a  common  lot  with  loosely-knit  col- 
lections of  maxims,  as  we  see  in  Ecelesiasticus  for 
instance,  some  manuscripts  of  which  have  matter 
not  found  in  others.  But  there  exists  also  a  con- 
temporary notice  of  the  very  conditions  which  gave 
birth  to  the  transformation  of  the  "  Two  Ways " 
into  the  "Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,"  that  is, 
substantially  our  Didache.  The  form  in  which  this 
fact  reaches  us  is  peculiar,  but  highly  characteristic 
of  the  age.  It  is  presented  as  prophecy,  as  part  of  a 
series  of  events  revealed  in  vision  to  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  which  a  Jewish  Christian  hand  added  to  the 
Jewish  Apocalypse  known  as  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah. 
This  vision  we  are  able  to  assign  to  about  64-66 2 
A.  D.,  so  adding  another  to  the  few  and  precious  fixed 
points  in  the  Apostolic  Age.  We  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  quote  this  document  at  some  length.  Enough 
now  to  state  that  it  refers  to  a  falling  away  from  the 
"  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  "  as  destined  to 
take  place  in  the  degenerate  days  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  Lord's  return,  there  expected  to  follow  on 
Nero's  assumption  of  the  role  of  Antichrist  about 
autumn  64.     Such  a  reference  does  not  indeed  prove 

1  Didache  i.  3  (from  "Bless  ye")  to  ii.  1,  was  certainly  so  in- 
serted, in  one  or  two  stages  ;  and  cb.  vi.  was  appended,  probably 
at  tbe  moment  wben  tbe  manual  passed  definitely  beyond  Jewish 
Christian  circles  into  tbe  hands  of  Gentile  Christians  who  could 
not  be  expected  to  "  bear  the  yoke  of  the  Lord  as  a  whole,"  and 
so  be  "perfect."  They  were  to  do  what  they  could  as  to  ab- 
staining from  unclean  foods  :  but  by  all  means  they  were  to  be- 
ware of  food  offered  to  idols,  "for  it  is  a  worship  of  dead  gods." 
See  Literary  Appendix  for  further  details. 

2  For  the  evidence,  see  Literary  Appendix. 


The  "Didache"  Analyzed.  311 

directly  the  existence  of  a  work  styled  the  Teaching 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles.  But  it  does  so  indirectly,  by 
indicating  just  those  conditions  which  explain  the 
origin  of  our  Didache,  namely  a  time  when  the  true 
Apostolic  tradition  was  beginning  to  suffer  eclipse 
owing  to  the  death  of  the  first  witnesses  them- 
selves. The  full  strength  of  this  position,  however, 
can  only  be  felt  as  our  exposition  of  the  document 
and  the  epoch  proceeds  step  by  step. 

Part  II.,  of  our  Didache  (Chh.  vii.-xvi.),  then,  is  a 
manifesto  of  the  true  Apostolic  tradition,  issued  in 
the  earlier  days  of  that  period  of  degeneracy  de- 
scribed in  darker  colors  by  the  unknown  apocalyptic 
writer  about  64-66.  These  days  would  coincide 
roughly  with  the  years  60-65,  during  which  the  orig- 
inal Apostles — a  Paul,  a  James,  a  Peter — were  fast 
passing  off  the  scene,  as  also  the  original  local 
"leaders  who  spake  the  Word  of  God"  to  the 
Churches  (Heb.  xiii.  7).  The  need  of  the  time  was 
for  something  that  should  confirm  faith,  already  a 
good  deal  perplexed  by  the  departure  of  the  original 
witnesses,  in  the  truth  of  its  traditional  beliefs  and 
usages.  And  what  better  confirmation  could  there 
be,  than  a  document  having  behind  it  the  collective 
weight  of  the  original  Apostolic  witnesses  ?  As  the 
life  of  the  primitive  Jerusalem  community  had  rested 
on  "  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  fellow- 
ship "  which  found  formal  expression  in  "  the  Break- 
ing of  Bread  and  the  Prayers"  (Acts  ii.  42);  so 
now,  it  was  to  be  confirmed  in  these  Syrian  regions 
by  the  assurance  that  the  best  local  teaching  in  con- 
duct and  in  Church-life  indeed  represented  the  mind 


312  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  their  Lord  as  echoed  by  the  voices  of  His  original 
Apostles.1  And  thus  the  Didache  sprang  into  be- 
ing in  much  its  present  scope,  embracing  practical 
"  teaching,"  the  outlines  of  ecclesiastical  institutions, 
and  a  fresh  call  to  watchfulness — in  spite  of  oppos- 
ing tendencies — in  the  confidence  that  the  Great 
Crisis  could  not  now  long  be  delayed. 

We  have  seen  the  nature  of  the  practical  rule  of 
life  embodied  in  the  Two  Ways:  and  the  re-pub- 
lication of  its  simple  ethics  bears  emphatic  witness 
to  the  conservatism  of  the  Judseo-Christian  ideal.2 
But  our  present  business  is  with  the  new  elements 
found  in  Part  II.,  which  the  analogy  of  Part  I. 
should  prepare  us  to  regard  as  new  in  only  a  very 
limited  sense.  The  bulk  of  them  preexisted  as  us- 
age more  or  less  definite,  and  indeed  stereotyped 
in  the  case  of  Baptism  and  the  Eucharistic  meal, 
as  also  of  the  liturgic  formulae  associated  there- 
with. As  these  liturgical  elements  (vii.-x.)  largely 
reflect  past  usage,  antecedent  even  to  62  A.  D., 
while  the  rest  of  what  follows  (xi.-xvi.)  has  regard 
rather  to  the  new  crisis  and  the  expected  future,  we 
may  treat  the  whole  in  two  sections  broadly  styled 
Liturgical  and  Ecclesiastical. 

§  1.     Liturgical :  DidacJie,  vii.-x. 

The  second  part  of  the  Didache  begins  most  fit- 
tingly with  a  reference  to  entrance  into  the  Spiritual 

'  Of  course  the  Didache  was  only  indirectly  apostolic,  i.  e.,  issued 
by  certain  Syrian  disciples  of  apostles  as  a  true  account  of  their 
general  teaching.     Indeed  it  makes  no  higher  claim  for  itself. 

'Even  the  more  Evangelic  precepts  now  found  in  i.  3-5,  were 
probably  added  after  70  A.  D. 


The  Baptismal  Formula.  313 

Israel  through  Baptism.  Its  subjects  are  those  al- 
ready instructed  in  the  duties  of  their  new  state,  as 
set  forth  in  the  "  Two  Ways." 

"Now  as  touching  Baptism,  thus  shall  ye  baptize.  Having 
first  recited  all  these  things  (the  'Two  Ways'),  baptize  ye  in 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  iu 
living  (running)  water.  (But  if  thou  hast  not  living  water,  bap- 
tize in  other  water  ;  and  if  thou  canst  not  in  cold,  then  in  warm. 
But  if  thou  hast  neither  [i.  e.,in  sufficient  quantity],  pour  water  on 
the  head  thrice  in  the  name  of  Father  and  Son  and  Holy  Spirit). 
But  before  the  baptism  let  him  that  baptizeth  and  him  that  is 
baptized  fast,  and  any  others  who  can.  (And  thou  shalt  bid  him 
that  is  baptized  to  fast  one  or  two  days  beforehand)." 

Here  the  noteworthy  features  of  the  section,  in 
its  original  state,1  are  :  first  the  address  to  the  local 
church  as  a  whole,  not  to  a  special  ministrant ;  and 
next,  the  use  of  the  threefold  Name.  The  former 
point  implies  that  the  Ecclesia  itself  authorized  ad- 
mission to  its  own  membership,  the  ministrant  being 

1  The  more  special  provisions,  here  put  in  brackets,  look  like 
later  amplifications  meant  to  keep  the  manual  up  to  date,  possibly 
also  to  adjust  it  to  climatic  aud  other  conditions  different  from 
those  of  its  original  home.  (1)  Note  change  from  the  plural  to 
the  singular  address  (i.  e.,  to  the  ministrant — as  Apost.  Const,  vii. 
22  throughout  the  section).  (2)  The  threefold  act,  symbolic  of 
the  threefold  Name,  occurs  only  incidentally,  in  connection  with 
one  of  three  special  cases,  not  with  the  general  injunction  at  the 
beginning ;  i.  e.,  both  features  are  later  additions.  (3)  Iu  the  second 
mention  of  the  baptismal  Name,  the  definite  articles,  fouud  before 
each  member  in  the  first  instance,  disappear.  This  probably  rep- 
resents the  liturgical  use  of  another  time  and  place.  Thus  the 
Clementine  Homilies  (early  third  century  ?)  xi.  26,  35,  have  this 
form  and  also  the  feature  next  named  :  cf.  also  iii.  73,  xiii.  9,  11, 
xiv.  1,  and  the  Acts  of  Barnabas  (early  second  century?)  ch.  13. 
(4)  The  very  specific  charge  to  the  candidate  to  fast  "one  or  two 
days  "  previously,  seems  like  an  afterthought.  The  connection  is 
better  without  it. 


314  The  Apostolic  Age. 

ignored  as  simply  instrumental :  and  the  significance 
of  the  idea  is  indicated  by  the  care  which  the  Apos- 
tolical Constitutions  (iv.  century)  took  to  change  the 
phraseology.  The  occurrence  of  the  Triune  name 
is  most  noteworthy,  if  this  part  of  the  Didache  really 
belongs  to  about  65  A.  D.  and  may  be  taken  as  an 
index  of  North  Syrian  usage  in  some  circles  at  least. 
For  if  so,  it  is  probably  our  earliest  witness  to  the 
use  of  this  formula  in  baptism,  not  excepting  the 
closing  verses  of  St.  Matthew.  It  is  not  only  that 
this  gospel  cannot  be  assigned  to  a  date  much  before 
70  A.  D. ;  but,  apart  from  this,  none  of  the  cases  of 
baptism  alluded  to  in  Acts  and  in  the  Epistles  show 
any  trace  of  the  use  of  such  a  formula.  They  sug- 
gest rather  some  simple  form  of  confessed  allegiance 
to  Jesus  as  Christ  or  Lord.  Nor  have  we  any  reason 
to  suppose  that  this  simpler  usage  was  speedily  re- 
placed by  the  other.  In  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  a 
work  written  within  some  ten  years  of  the  Didache, 
we  read :  "  we  descend  into  the  water  laden  with 
sins  and  filth,  and  go  up  from  it  bearing  fruit  in  the 
heart,  resting  in  spirit  our  fear  and  hope  on  Jesus  " 
(xi.  11).  And  we  get  a  similar  impression  from  Her- 
nias, writing  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century. 
"  For  before  a  man  bears  the  name  of  the  Son  of 
God,  he  is  dead.  But  whene'er  he  receives  the  seal 
he  lays  aside  deadness  and  assumes  life.  Now  the 
seal  is  the  water."  1 

In  view  of  all  this  and  also  of  a  phrase  further  on, 
"  those  baptized  unto  the  Lord's  name,"  one  might 
be  tempted  to  suppose  that  the  present  formula  has 
1  Similitude,  ix.  16. 


The  Lord's  Prayer  and  Doxology.  315 

displaced  an  older  one  in  our  Didache.  But  this 
would  be  needless,  since  the  probable  dates  of  it  and 
our  Matthew  are  close  enough  together  to  make  it 
quite  likely  that  a  usage  witnessed  by  the  latter,  say 
about  68-75,  existed  already  in  the  circle  of  the 
former  some  few  years  earlier.  First  appearance  in 
literature  very  seldom  means  first  appearance  in  fact. 
And  this  conclusion  is  strengthened  by  the  occur- 
rence, in  the  very  next  section,  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  a  form  akin  to,  but  not  identical  with,  that  found 
in  Matthew.  The  section  in  question  runs  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  But  let  your  fasts  not  be  along  with  the  hypocrites  (i  e.,  the 
unbelieving  Jews)  ;  for  they  fast  on  the  second  (Monday)  and 
fifth  day  (Thursday)  ;  but  do  ye  fast  on  the  fourth  (Wednesday) 
and  on  the  Preparation  day  (Friday). '  Neither  pray  ye  as  the 
hypocrites;  but  as  the  Lord  bade  in  Hia  Gospel  so  pray  ye:  Our 
Father,  etc.     .     .     .     Thrice  in  the  day  so  pray  ye." 

To  take  the  central  point  first.  We  have  here  a 
version  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  strongly  agreeing  with 
Matthew's  form  (as  compared  with  Luke's),  but  yet 
so  differing  in  minor  details  as  to  negative  the  likeli- 
hood of  direct  dependence  thereon.  For  it  must  be 
remembered  that  in  a  familiar  form  of  prayer  even 
minor  differences  cannot  be  dismissed  as  slips  of 

1  Fasting  as  an  aid  to  prayer  and  a  coudition  of  its  greatest 
efficacy  was  very  common  in  later  Judaism  and  among  many 
of  the  early  Christians :  see  Luke  ii.  37  (the  case  of  Anna),  Acts 
xiii.  2,  3,  xiv.  23;  cf.  2  Cor.  vi.  5;  and  later,  Polycarp,  vii.  2, 
"being  sober  unto  prayers  and  persevering  in  fastings,"  Hernias, 
Vis.  iii.  10,  6.  In  this  connection  the  interpolated  references  to 
fasting  in  the  Textus  Beceptus  of  Matt.  xvii.  21  (Mark  ix.  29),  Acts 
x.  30,  and  1  Cor.  vii.  5,  are  also  instructive. 


316  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

memory. l  We  must  not  build  too  much  on  the  pres- 
ence of  a  Doxology  at  the  end  differing  from  that 
found  in  the  Authorized  Version  (but  rightly  omit- 
ted in  the  Revised)  in  the  omission  of  "the  King- 
dom." For  Doxologies  are  apt  to  creep  in  from  later 
usage,  as  happened  in  the  case  of  our  Matthew. 
Yet  the  recurrence  of  practically  the  same  Dox- 
ology in  the  two  Eucharistic  prayers  soon  to  be 
cited,  suggests  that  it  is  original  here  also.  If  so, 
the  whole  Prayer  is  given  as  it  was  then  used  in 
private  devotions,  three  times  a  day,  as  well  as  in 
public  worship.2  Nor  do  the  words  which  introduce 
the  prayer  point  the  other  way.  If  by  "  His  Gos- 
pel" had  been  meant  a  written  gospel,  we  should 
have  had,  not  "  as  the  Lord  bade  "  {kkihuaev),  but 
"bids,"  His  voice  being  perpetuated  in  the  written 
word.  But  this  does  not  settle  the  question  whether 
a  written  record  of  the  Lord's  sayings  was  or  was 
not  in  use  at  the  place  and  time  concerned.  To  this 
we  must  return  later. 

We  now  come  to  sections  of  great  interest,  those 
dealing  with  the  current  Eucharist  usages  and  the 
ideas  therein  implied. 

"But  as  touching  tbe  giving-of-thanks,  ('Eucharist'),  after 
this  manner  give  thanks.     First,  as  regards  the  cup:  'We  give 

'Note  "debt"  (ttjv  6<peiXrjv)  instead  of  "debts"  (rd  dcpeiyrj- 
liara),  where  Luke  also  differs,  having  "sins."  These  all  prob- 
ably represent  a  single  Semitic  original :  but  they  mean  distinct 
lines  of  Greek  tradition. 

2 The  other  variations  are,  "heaven"  for  "heavens"  (so  char- 
acteristic of  Matthew),  "forgive"  (d<p(e/j.ev,  cf.  Luke's  &<p(ofiev) 
for  "have  forgiven"  {d<f7JKa^.£v),  and  IXQaru)  for  iXOircj. 


Eucharist ic  Prayers.  317 

Thee  thanks,  our  Father,  for  the  holy  Vine  of  David  Thy  servant, 
which  Thou  madest  known  to  us  through  Jesus  Thy  Servant.  To 
Thee  be  the  glory  forever  (unto  the  ages).'  And  as  regards  the 
bread  (broken  bread,  aXdaiiK):  '  We  give  Thee  thanks,  our 
Father,  for  the  life  and  knowledge  which  Thou  madest  known 
to  us  through  Jesus  Thy  Servant.  To  Thee  be  the  glory  forever. 
As  this  piece  of  bread  was  once  scattered  (as  grain)  upon  the  top 
of  the  mountains  (cf.  Ps.  lxxii.  16)  and  then  being  gathered  to- 
gether became  one,  so  may  Thy  Church  be  gathered  together  from 
the  ends  of  the  earth  into  Thy  Kingdom.  For  Thine  is  the  glory 
and  the  power  through  Jesus  Christ  forever.'  But  let  no  one  eat 
or  drink  of  your  Thanksgiving  meal,  save  those  baptized  unto  the 
Lord's  name:  for  regarding  this  also  the  Lord  hath  said,  'Give 
not  that  which  is  holy  to  the  dogs.'  And  after  being  satisfied 
('filled'),  thus  give  ye  thanks:  'We  give  Thee  thanks,  Holy 
Father,  for  Thy  holy  name,  which  Thou  hast  enshrined  (made  to 
tabernacle)  in  our  hearts,  and  for  the  knowledge  and  faith  and 
immortality  which  Thou  madest  known  to  us  through  Jesus  Thy 
Servant.  To  Thee  be  the  glory  forever.  Thou,  Master  Almighty 
( Aia-Koxa  TzavroKpdrop),  didst  create  the  universe  for  Thy  Name  'a 
sake,  didst  give  both  food  and  drink  to  men  to  enjoy,  that  they 
might  give  Thee  thanks;  but  to  us  Thou  hast  graciously  given 
spiritual  food  and  drink  and  life  eternal  through  Thy  Servant. 
Before  all  things  we  give  Thee  thanks  that  Thou  art  powerful  :  to 
Thee  be  the  glory  forever.  Kemember,  Lord,  Thy  Church,  to 
deliver  it  from  all  ill  and  to  perfect  it  in  Thy  love;  and  gather  it 
together  from  the  four  winds,  the  hallowed  (Church),  into  Thy 
Kingdom  which  Thou  preparedst  for  it.1  For  Thine  is  the  power 
and  the  glory  forever.     Let  grace  come  (cf.  1  Pet.  i.  13),  and  let 


1  For  this  aspect  of  the  Kingdom  as  future  cf.  Matt.  xxv.  34, 
2  Peter  i.  11,  and  the  unidentified  quotation  in  1  Cor.  ii.  9.  Its 
nature  is  described  in  iv  Ezra  ii.  10-13.  "Tell  My  people  that 
I  will  give  them  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  which  I  would  have 
given  unto  Israel.  Their  glory  also  will  I  take  unto  Me,  and  give 
these  the  everlasting  tabernacles  which  I  had  prepared  for  them. 
They  shall  have  the  Tree  of  life  for  an  ointment  of  sweet  savor  : 
they  shall  neither  labor  nor  be  weary.  Ask,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive: pray  for  few  days  unto  you,  that  they  may  be  shortened: 
the  Kingdom  is  already  prepared  for  you  :  watch." 


318  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

this  world  pass  away.  Hosanna  to  the  God  of  David.  If  any  is 
holy,  let  him  come :  if  any  is  not,  let  him  repent.  Maran  Atha 
("Our  Lord  cometh,"  cf.  1  Cor.  xvi.  22).  Amen.'  But  to  the 
prophets  give  license  to  render  thanks  as  much  as  they  will." 

Before  proceeding  to  comment  on  these  prayers,  it 
may  be  well  to  lay  beside  the  closing  passage 
relative  to  the  church's  consummation  another  of 
somewhat  similar  tenor,  inserted  by  some  Judseo- 
Christian  hand  in  iv  Ezra  ii.  33  ff.  "Arise  up  and 
stand,  and  behold  the  number  of  those  that  be  sealed 
in  the  Feast  of  the  Lord ;  they  that  withdrew  them 
from  the  shadow  of  the  world  have  received  glorious 
garments  [i.  e.,  Baptismal  Righteousness]  of  the 
Lord.  Receive  thy  number,  O  Sion,  and  make  up 
the  reckoning  of  those  of  thine  that  are  clothed  in 
white,  which  have  fulfilled  the  Law  of  the  Lord. 
The  number  of  thy  children,  whom  thou  longedst 
for,  is  fulfilled :  beseech  the  power  of  the  Lord,  that 
thy  people,  which  have  been  called  from  the  be- 
ginning, may  be  hallowed  "  (38-41).  The  reference 
of  this  is  quite  obvious  in  the  light  of  the  opening 
words :  "  O  ye  nations,  that  hear  and  understand, 
look  for  your  Shepherd.  He  shall  give  you  everlast- 
ing rest :  for  He  is  near  at  hand,  that  shall  come  in 
the  end  of  the  world."  Sion  is  here  the  ideal  City 
of  the  Saints,  in  which  they,  of  whatever  clime  or 
race,  have  their  citizenship.  The  idea  is  akin  to 
that  in  Psalm  Ixxxvii.  6.  "  The  Lord  shall  count, 
when  He  writeth  up  the  peoples,  this  one  was  born 
there." 

So,  too,  in  our  Didache  the  Old  Testament  associa- 
tions are  quite  obvious.     It  is  "  the  God  of  David  " 


"The  Holy  Vine  of  David"  not  Jesus.       319 

that  is  praised  for  the  coming  Kingdom :  the  King- 
dom itself  is  still  conceived  as  a  perfected  Jewish 
theocracy,  no  less  than  at  Christ's  triumphal  entry 
into  Jerusalem  (Matt.  xxi.  9 ;  Mark  xi.  9),  though 
on  more  spiritual  and  universal  lines.  Palestine, 
that  is,  is  the  centre  to  which  in  a  new  world-order 
the  Saints  are  to  be  gathered  together,  unto  the 
glorious  Messianic  Kingdom  foreshadowed  in  Daniel 
vii.  13  f.,  27  and  many  another  Old  Testament 
Scripture,  some  of  which  had  spoken  of  a  gathering 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  from  the  four  winds 
of  heaven  (Deut.  xxx.  4;  Is.  xxvii.  13;  Zech.  ii.  6). 
And  the  tone  of  the  references,  to  David  in  par- 
ticular, makes  it  likely  that  such  prayers  reflect  the 
aspirations  of  Syrian  Judseo-Christians  before  rather 
than  after  the  Fall  of  Jerusalem,  which  put  Davidic 
associations  into  the  background. 

From  this  standpoint  we  can  render  satisfactory 
account  of  the  most  difficult  phrase  in  these  prayers, 
that  namely  in  which  thanks  are  rendered  for  "  the 
holy  Vine  of  David  "  revealed  through  Jesus.  This 
cannot  possibly  mean  Jesus  Himself  as  Messiah ;  for 
He  is  described  instrumentally  as  God's  "servant" 
(rca??),  exactly  as  in  the  early  chapters  of  Acts  (iii. 
13,  26,  iv.  27,  30) — the  phrase  in  either  case  pointing 
to  the  "  Servant  of  Jehovah  "  in  the  later  part  of 
Isaiah  (e.  g.,  xlii.  1,  in  LXX.).  But  if  we  turn  to 
Psalm  lxxx.  8  ff.  we  find  Israel  called  God's  Vine ; 
and  God  is  entreated  to  look  down  from  heaven  and 
visit  it,  "and  the  stock  which  (or,  maintain  that 
which)  Thy  right  hand  hath  planted,  and  the  branch 
(lit.  "  Son  ")  that  Thou  madest  strong  for  Thyself. 


320  The  Apostolic  Age. 


.  .  .  Let  Thy  hand  be  upon  the  man  of  Thy 
right  hand,  upon  the  Son  of  man  whom  Thou 
madest  strong  for  Thyself."  In  this  fountain-head 
of  the  simile,  one  notices  the  close  blending  of  the 
collective  and  personal  such  as  would  inevitably  sug- 
gest to  Jews  in  the  first  century  a  highly  Messianic 
way  of  taking  the  passage.  And  there  were  other 
passages  of  the  same  type.  "  Let  me  sing  for  my 
Well-beloved  a  song  of  my  Beloved 1  touching  His 
vineyard.  .  .  .  For  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of 
hosts  is  the  house  of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah 
the  plant  of  His  delight."  "And  I  will  raise  up 
unto  them  a  plant  for  renown.  .  .  .  And  ye,  My 
sheep,  the  sheep  of  My  pasture,  are  men,  and  I  am 
your  God,  saith  the  Lord  God." 2  Again,  just  above 
we  read :  "  I  will  set  up  one  shepherd  over  them,  and 
he  shall  feed  them,  even  my  servant  David.  .  .  . 
And  I  the  Lord  will  be  their  God,  and  My  servant 
David  prince  among  them.  "  3 

In  view  of  such  Old  Testament  usage  we  may  be 
sure  that  the  "  Vine  of  David  "  meant,  to  those  who 
framed  and  used  this  prayer,  the  true  sound  stock  of 
Israel 4  (i.  e.,  the  Messianic  element  in  it),  a  favorite 

1  "  Beloved  "  is  the  title  for  Christ  hi  Ascensio  Isaise. 

2  Isaiah  v.  1,  7  ;  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  29  ff. 

3  A  most  valuable  link  between  these  Old  Testament  passages 
and  our  Judseo-Christian  prayers  is  afforded  by  a  great  Messianic 
expression  of  pious  Judaism  about  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  Psalms  of  Solomon,  xvii.  There  the  Davidic  King  and 
God's  Kingdom  are  very  closely  bound  up  together. 

4  In  literature  of  the  early  second  century,  in  Hermas,  Vis.  v.,  we 
have  the  parable  of  the  Viueyard  (God's  People)  and  the  faithful 
Servant  (Jesus  Christ)  who  devotes  Himself  to  its  welfare.  Yet 
more  akin  is  the  archaic  opening  of  Book  i,  of  the  Syrian  Di- 


Origins  of  the  Metaphor.  321 

idea  with  Isaiah.  And  just  as  in  the  later  part  of 
that  book  the  sense  of  the  "  Servant  of  Jehovah  " 
hovers  between  the  collective  being  of  ideal  Israel 
and  some  chosen  Servant  through  whom  it  realizes 
its  calling,  so  must  it  have  been  to  these  Jewish 
Christians.  The  Messianic  Kingdom  itself  was  to 
them  the  Vine  of  David,  the  Davidic  Theocracy; 
and  Jesus  was  the  Chosen  One  through  whom  it  had 
been  revealed  and  was  yet  to  be  consummated.  In 
other  words,  we  have  the  standpoint  of  the  prayers 
in  the  early  chapters  of  Acts  stereotyped  in  these 
archaic  petitions.1  Yet  it  is  probable  that  it  was 
through  the  medium  of  current  Apocalyptic  writ- 
ings that  the  actual  phrase  "  the  Vine  of  David  " 
came  naturally  to  those  who  used  the  Eucharistic 
prayers  of  the  Didache.  Thus  in  the  Book  of  Enoch 
Israel  is  "  the  Plant  of  Righteousness  "  (x.  16).  In 
the  Apocalypse  of  Bar  itch  (xxxix.  7)  we  read  that 
in  the  latter  days  "  the  principate  of  My  Messiah 
will  be  revealed,  which  is  like  the  Fountain  and  the 
Vine  [already  described]  ;  and  when  it  is  revealed 
it  will  root  out  the  multitude  of  his  host "  [i.  e.,  the 
power  of  Rome].  Here  then  we  have  the  source  of 
this     otherwise     perplexing     expression.      And     to 

daskalia — "  God's  plant  (Matt.  xv.  13)  and  His  elect  Vineyard 
are  they  who  have  believed  on  His  guileless  religion  .  .  . 
co-heirs  and  co-sharers  with  His  heloved  Servant  (7ra7?)." 

1  Both  here  and  in  Acts  iv.  24  God  is  the  Almighty  "  Master  " 
(Despotes,  found  also  in  Symeon's  Jewish  prayer,  Luke  ii.  29,  and 
in  the  prayer  in  Rev.  vi.  10) ;  and  Jesus  is  "Thy  (holy)  Servant  " 
(lit.  "cliild").  Also  in  Acts  iii.  19  ff.  Jesus,  as  the  Christ,  is  the 
"Prophet"  of  the  Kingdom,  the  "Servant  "  raised  up  and  sent 
"  to  bless  Israel  in  turning  every  one  from  bis  sins,"  so  turning 
it  into  the  true  Messianic  Israel. 
U 


322  The  Apostolic  Age. 

render  this  solution  complete,  we  have  only  to  ob- 
serve that  in  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah  the  Church  is 
definitely  styled  "  the  Plant  which  the  twelve  Apos- 
tles of  Beloved  planted." l 

In  dealing  with  this  crucial  point  at  some  length 
we  have  cleared  the  way  for  a  brief  treatment  of 
other  points  in  these  remarkable  prayers.  Thus  the 
whole  symbolism  of  the  Cup  conforms  to  the  notion 
of  the  Vine  whose  life-blood  is  therein  typified.  It 
was  felt  that  in  drinking  of  the  one  Cup  they  were 
sharing  in  common  the  very  life-element  of  the 
Kingdom.  As  we  may  gather  from  the  title  Agape 
or  "Love-meal,"  given  in  some  quarters2  to  the 
Sacred  meal  of  Thanksgiving  (Eucharist)  in  keeping 
with  the  New  Commandment  that  accompanied  its 
institution,  the  Vine's  life-blood  was  Love.  So, 
then,  the  Cup  was  indeed  "  a  loving  cup,"  passed 
round  among  the  brethren  as  symbol  of  their  one 
life  rooted  in  the  Christ  and  renewed  at  such  seasons 
of  communion  with  one  another  and  with  Him  in  the 
Spirit.  And  this  is  just  the  idea  of  the  Cup  which 
meets  us  in  the  passage  where  Paul  expresses  the 
kindred  thought  of  the  Kingdom  as  a  spiritual  or- 
ganism— the  mystical  Christ,  constituted  by  Jesus 
Christ   and  His  members.     Believers  are  not  only 

•This  explanation  removes  the  notion  of  dependence  upon  the 
allegory  of  the  Vine  in  John  xv.  Though  the  thought  is  in  sub- 
stance the  same — the  Vine  (Messianic  Kingdom)  including  both 
Messiah  as  stock  and  the  Saints  as  branches — yet  a  Johannine 
tradition  cannot  be  here  discerned  as  operative. 

2  Jude  12  (?  2  Pet.  ii.  13).  We  must  not  assume  that  all  the 
names  for  this  Sacred  Meal  were  used  everywhere  :  probably  each 
reflects  a  distinct  aspect  of  it  as  conceived  by  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christians,  and  even  in  different  localities. 


The  Jnhannine  Tradition.  323 


"in  one  Spirit  all  baptized  into  one  Body  ";  they  are 
also  "all  made  to  drink  one  Spirit  "  (1  Cor.  xii.  13, 
cf.  x.  4).  In  similar  fashion,  the  Bread  represents 
the  food  of  the  Kingdom,  the  life-giving  knowlege 
or  truth  revealed  in  Jesns.  As  God  had  given  to 
men  at  large  food  for  the  body,  so  to  His  own  chil- 
dren the  Holy  Father  had  given  in  grace  "  spiritual 
food  and  drink  and  life  eternal  through  His  Servant." 
What  is  ever  before  their  minds  is  the  wonder  of 
the  "  knowledge  '  and  faith  and  immortality  "  opened 
up  to  them  for  the  first  time  in  Jesus.  And  the  core 
of  it  all  was  God's  new  name  of  Father,  "  Holy 
Father,"  deep  enshrined  in  every  heart. 

Here  we  seem  to  feel  ourselves  in  familiar  atmos- 
phere, that  of  certain  parts  of  John's  Gospel,  par- 
ticularly chapter  vi.,  where  Christ,  i.  e.,  His  spiritual 
nature  conveyed  by  His  words  made  "spirit  and 
life,"  is  the  Bread  of  Life.  Snatches  also  of  the 
High-Priestly  prayer  in  John  xvii.  occur  to  the 
mind.  But  on  closer  inspection  the  differences  are 
fully  as  striking  as  the  affinities.  There  is  nothing 
here  of  "the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Son  of  Man  "; 
indeed  there  is  no  thought  of  Jesus  as  Himself  the 
Bread.  Again  the  ruling  note  of  John  xvii.  is  the 
Sonship  of  Jesus;  here  we  have  rather  "Jesus  Thy 
Servant,"  parallel  with  "  David  Thy  servant."  Yet 
this  does  not  exclude  a  certain  real  community  be- 
tween these  prayers  and  the  Johannine  tradition, which 
must  have  begun  to  enter  into  the  store  of  Christian 
speech  and  thought  long  before  it  was  embodied  in 

'Cf.   Luke  i.  77,    "to  give  knowledge  of  Salvation  unto  His 
people,  in  the  remission  of  their  sins." 


324  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  Gospel.1  It  is  most  probable  that  John,  as  well 
as  Peter,  early  began  to  contribute  his  special  quota, 
determined  by  the  special  receptivity  of  his  soul,  to 
the  store  of  his  Master's  great  sayings.  And  we 
have  evidence  in  the  letters  of  Ignatius  of  Antioch 
(c.  115  A.  D.)  that  the  Johannine  tradition  had  a 
strong  and  by  no  means  recent  hold  upon  the  regions 
of  North  Syria  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  cen- 
tury. 

The  reader  may  already  have  noticed  that  the 
order  in  which  the  Eucharistic  prayer  alludes  to  the 
Cup  and  the  Bread  is  unusual:  and  he  might  per- 
haps suppose  it  due  to  inadvertence.2  But  reflection 
will  speedily  convince  that  in  a  church  manual,  re- 
flecting usage  and  continuing  to  influence  usage, 
such  an  explanation  is  quite  out  of  the  question.  It 
must  correspond  to  the  usage  in  the  region  where 
the  Didaelie  took  shape,  and  probably  in  the  church 
or  churches  in  which  these  liturgical  forms  of  prayer 
had  earlier  grown  up.  Nor  is  it  an  isolated  phe- 
nomenon. It  is  implied  as  the  usage  familiar  to  the 
author  of  our  third  Gospel.  For  the  words  usually 
read  in  Luke  xxii.  19b-20  are  omitted  in  a  group 
of  authorities3  not  at  all  given  to  omissions  ;  and 
verse  20  by  its  very  contents  betrays  its  origin  as  a 
later  composite  insertion  (based  on  1  Cor.  xi.  25  a 
and  Mark  xiv.  24  b),  since  it  overloads  the  Institution 

1  The  term  "Holy  Father  "  may  well  come  from  the  first  com- 
plete clause  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 

8  For  the  connection  of  this  order  with  the  nature  of  the  Last 
Supper,  see  chapter  on  Church  Fellowship. 

3 The  oldest  so-called  "Western"  authorities,  which  might 
more  truly  be  called  "  primitive  Syrian." 


The  Silence  as  to  the  Cross.  325 

with  two  cups  in  its  anxiety  to  assimilate  Luke  to  the 
two  parallel  accounts.  But  this  being  so,  we  learn 
that  in  the  region  represented  by  the  Didache  and  St. 
Luke  (which  we  may  say  outright  was  probably  also 
North  Syrian  or  Antiochene),  the  traditional  account 
of  the  Last  Supper  contained  no  explicit  reference 
to  the  meaning  of  the  Cup.  It  was  simply  referred 
to  as  "  the  fruit  of  the  Vine,"  so  that  the  way  was 
quite  open  for  the  reference  to  "  the  Vine  of  David  " 
which  the  Didache  saw  therein.  In  Luke's  narrative 
the  only  hint  of  the  thought  in  the  Saviour's  mind  is 
the  glance  forward  to  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God — wherein,  as  the  preceding  context  suggests,  a 
greater  Feast  of  Deliverance  than  the  Paschal  Feast 
shall  yet  find  fulfilment.  Yet  there  is  no  word  re- 
corded in  Luke  or  in  the  Didache  connecting  the 
Feast  unmistakably  with  His  death,  either  as  re- 
demptive or  as  condition  of  the  future  efficacy  of 
similar  sacred  or  memorial  meals.  This  silence, 
when  first  noticed,  comes  with  a  shock  of  surprise. 
Nor  is  the  surprise  lessened  in  one  sense,  when  we 
observe  that  it  is  characteristic  of  all  that  we  know  of 
the  early  Judaeo-Christian  attitude  toward  the  Cross: 
but  to  this  we  must  revert  in  a  later  connection. 
The  Cup  and  Bread,  then,  are  in  these  prayers 
taken  simply  as  symbols  of  the  spiritual  drink  and 
food  of  the  Messianic  Community  or  Church.  Love, 
springing  from  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Father,  was 
the  central  thought  and  created  one  of  the  titles  of 
this  the  Lord's  Meal  (as  Paul  calls  it),  the  Agcqje 
or  Love-Meal.  It  was  also  symbolized  by  the  Kiss 
of  Peace  which  Justin  Martyr  tells  us  preceded  the 


326  The  Apostolic  Age. 

act  of  Communion.  And  where  love  is,  there  also 
is  joy.  Hence  the  prayers  breathe  the  exultant 
spirit  emphasized  in  Acts  (ii.  46)  as  breaking  forth 
at  the  social  meals  of  the  believing  Jews.  Joy  was 
regarded  as  the  outcome  of  the  new  wine  of  David's 
Holy  Vine,  into  which  they  had  been  incorporated 
by  repentance  and  baptism.1  Similarly  in  the  Bread 
they  saw  the  symbol  of  the  food  of  higher  life  and 
knowledge,  a  knowledge  of  the  Divine  will  that  had 
been  the  food  of  Messiah  Himself  (Matt.  iv.  4;  John 
iv.  34). 

But  while  thus  "making  Eucharist"  for  the 
bread  as  symbol  of  the  soul's  food,  the  gift  of  new 
revelation,  the  preoccupation  of  their  minds  with  the 
Hope  of  consummated  Salvation  (cf.  Rom.  viii.  24  f.) 
led  them  to  see  in  the  Bread  an  allegory  of  the 
Church's  ingathering  from  its  scattered  condition 
unto  the  state  of  rest  and  bliss  of  the  Earthly  Para- 
dise. For  it  was  on  the  lines  of  glowing  prophetic 
imagery,  as  developed  by  intervening  Apocalyptic 
reflection,  that  they  loved  to  imagine  the  perfected 

1  For  the  idea  of  Messiah's  Cup  as  meaning  a  share  in  the 
Messianic  experience  or  life,  note  the  striking  words  :  "  The  cup 
that  I  drink,  ye  shall  drink  "  (Mark  x.  39).  And  for  the  concep- 
tion of  Messiah  as  the  elder  brother  in  God's  Holy  Ecclesia,  lead- 
ing it  into  fulness  of  loyalty  and  praise,  attention  is  directed  to 
the  passage,  little  noticed  because  its  underlying  thought  has 
grown  unfamiliar  to  us,  in  which  Hebrews  (ii.  11  ff.)  spenks  of 
Jesus  as  Son  of  Man.  "  For  which  cause  He  is  not  ashamed  to  call 
them  brethren,  saying,  I  will  declare  Thy  name  unto  my  brethren,  in 
the  midst  of  the  Congregation  will  I  sing  Thy  praise.  And  again, 
J  will  put  my  trust  in  Him;  aud  again,  Behold,  I  and  the  children 
which  God  hath  given  me.'"  In  this  atmosphere  the  prayers  of  the 
Didache  begin  to  live  and  move. 


The  Great  Vogue  of  the  Didache.  327 

Kingdom  of  God.  It  was  this  that  floated  before 
their  vision  when  they  prayed,  "  Thy  Kingdom  come, 
Thy  will  come  to  pass,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth  " — 
i.  e.,  in  unhindered  and  glorious  manifestation.  For 
this  they  were  watching  and  waiting :  with  it  was  to 
come  the  "  immortality "  for  which  they  groaned. 
The  ground  and  guarantee  of  its  coming,  in  spite  of 
all  the  antagonistic  forces  of  "  this  world  " — to  all 
seeming  so  overwhelming — was  the  absolute  might 
of  the  All-Sovereign  Master  of  the  universe.  Hence 
their  fervent  and  emphatic  "  Eucharist "  for  "  that 
Thou  art  Powerful."  '  Nor  is  one  unburdening  of 
their  hearts  on  this  great  theme  enough.  In  one  and 
the  same  Eucharistic  Service  they  return  to  it  again 
ere  closing;  and  the  strain  of  earnest  longing  rises 
to  a  passionate  fugue  of  ejaculatory  petitions  for  the 
full  advent  of  Grace  and  the  doing  away  of  the 
World-order  that  was  its  foe  all  along  the  line. 
Their  final  consolation  is,  "Hosanna,  David's  God 
shall  yet  reign  !  " 

There  are  some  who  think  that  in  these  prayers,  as 
in  other  respects,  the  Didache  is  a  sort  of  "  hole  and 
corner  "  document,  the  local  ideal  of  a  "  shrunken 
orthodoxy."  If  any  special  refutation  of  this  theory 
were  necessary,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  bare  literary 
history  of  the  work  in  its  various  recensions.  It 
had  in  fact  very  great  vogue.  It  was  being  copied 
down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century,  when 
it  was  adapted  to  the  standards  of  a  more  developed 
orthodoxy  in   the   Seventh  book  of  the  Apostolical 

1  As  in  Apoc.  i.  8,  iv.  8  ff.,  v.  10,  vii.  12,  where  the  proud  and 
menacing  forces  of  evil  are  seen  to  be  evanescent. 


328  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

Constitutions.  But  what  has  been  said  and  what  yet 
remains  to  say  of  its  intimate  affinities  with  certain 
parts  of  the  New  Testament,  might  of  itself  convince 
us  that  it  was  a  highly  characteristic  product  of  the 
Judseo-Christianity  of  the  Apostolic  Age. 

§  2.  Ecclesiastical:  Didache  xi.-xvi. 

The  best  introduction  to  the  second  part  of  the 
Didache  is  furnished  by  a  Christian  section  added, 
about  64-66,1  to  the  Jewish  Apocalypse  known  as 
the  Ascension  of  Isaiah;  though  the  picture  there 
given  is  one  of  more  developed  degeneracy  than  is 
implied  in  any  part  of  our  Didache.  The  gist  of  it  is 
as  follows:  Men  who  lay  claim  to  heavenly  wisdom, 
as  Spirit-filled  prophets,  are  in  fact  often  "  lovers  of 
gifts  "  gained  by  messages  acceptable  to  individuals. 
This  spirit  of  worldly  gain  and  honor  infects  also  the 
regular  ministry  of  the  churches,  their  elders  and  pas- 
tors, whose  rivalry  breeds  bitter  hates.  A  spirit  of  error 
and  impurity  and  vainglory  and  love  of  money  is  abroad 
among  Christians,  and  great  ill-will  and  back-biting. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  largely  quenched.  Only  here 
and  there  is  there  a  true  prophet ;  while  in  their 
selfhood  most  neglect  the  old  prophetic  traditions 
and  utter  their  own  interested  ebullitions.  All  this 
marks  the  dark  hour  before  the  dawn.  But  during 
its  final  moments  will  be  manifested  a  truly  Satanic 
regime,  possessing  as  its  centre  and  head  a  man  that 
is  the  very  incarnation  of  evil,  backed  by  super- 
natural power.     This  stage  is  already  being  reached 

'This  date  is  justified  in  the  Literary  Appendix,  in  which  its 
text  is  cited. 


Its  Ecclesiastical  Portions.  329 

in  the  opinion  of  the  interpolator  of  the  Ascension  of 
Isaiah,  writing  A.  D.  64-66. 

The  contents  of  Didacha  xi.-xvi.,  which  reflect  the 
situation  in  North  Syria  about  this  time,  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

As  touching  teachers,  and  particularly  Apostles 
and  Prophets  (xi.) :  As  touching  stranger  Brethren 
(xii.) :  As  touching  a  Prophet  or  Teacher  settling  in 
a  church  (xiii.):  As  touching  the  purity  of  the 
Eucharist  (xiv.):  As  touching  election  of  Bishops 
and  Deacons  (xv.):  As  touching  the  Last  Days 
(xvi.). 

The  foregoing  instruction,  especially  the  ideal  of 
life  set  forth  in  the  "  Two  Ways,"  is  treated  as 
standard  of  a  teacher's  soundness.  If  any  "  turns 
round  and  teaches  another  teaching  to  the  undoing" 
of  this,  he  is  not  to  be  heard.  But  if  his  teaching 
"tends  to  add  righteousness  and  knowledge  of  the 
Lord  "  of  the  like  sort,  "receive  him  as  the  Lord." 
Here  we  see  the  serious  way  in  which  the  Lord  was 
felt  to  speak  in  those  animated  by  His  Spirit — a 
mode  of  thought  which  runs  through  early  Church 
life,  moulding  it  in  many  ways.  Of  such  Spirit- 
anointed  men  the  chief  were  known  as  "Apostles 
and  prophets  " ;  and  the  description  of  them  sheds  a 
flood  of  light  on  the  incidental  references  to  the 
same  classes  in  the  New  Testament.1  "But  with 
regard  to  the  apostles  and  prophets,  according  to 
the  rule  of  the  Gospel,  so  do  ye.  Let  every  apostle 
coining  to  you  be  received   as  the  Lord.     But  he 

Jl  Cor.  xii.   28  f . ;  Roru.  xvi.  7;  Eph.  ii.  20,  iii.  5,  iv.  11;  Acts 
xiv.  14,  cf.  xiii.  1;  Rev.  ii.  2. 


330  The  Apostolic  Age. 

shall  not  remain  more  than  one  day ;  yet  if  there  be 
need,  the  next  also ;  but  if  he  stay  three  days,  he 
is  a  false  prophet  (?'.  e.,  not  disinterested).  And 
when  he  departeth,  let  the  apostle  take  nought  save 
bread  to  last  till  he  reach  lodging :  and  if  he  ask 
money,  he  is  a  false  prophet." 

An  apostle,  then,  is  clearly  a  divinely-called  mis- 
sionary, whose  work  is  primarily  of  a  pioneer  order  ; 
such  as  that  of  the  brethren  described  in  John's  third 
Epistle  (5-7).  Being  thus  birds  of  passage,  they 
were  liable  to  the  vices  which  threaten  a  detached 
and  irresponsible  vocation:  and  experience  had  al- 
ready proved  that  the  original  impulse  which  sent 
them  forth  did  not  always  avail  to  keep  them  pure 
in  motive.  They  are,  however,  as  yet  far  from  being 
a  discredited  order.  In  their  free,  informal  min- 
istry, and  in  the  undefined  powers  which  they  en- 
joyed in  breaking  fresh  ground,  their  analogue  is 
the  pioneer  missionary  of  all  times ;  only  here  there 
was  as  a  rule  no  church  or  society  that  sent  them 
forth.  Their  gift  {Charisma')  was  their  empowering 
commission.  How  long  their  activity  continued  on 
these  lines  in  some  regions,  we  learn  from  a  passage 
in  which  Eusebius  describes  the  activity  of  men 
whom  he  calls  Evangelists,  who  took  the  place  of  the 
apostles  in  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century. 

Next  to  them  in  repute,  and  differing  from  them 
mainly  as  more  localized  in  the  range  of  their  min- 
istry, were  the  prophets,  also  marked  out  for  their 
functions  by  special  charism.  Theirs  it  was  to  "speak 
in  (the)  Spirit,"  i.  e.,  with  inspired  spontaneity.  Their 
own  volition  was  thought  to  be  in  abeyance,  so  that 


Abuses  of  Prerogative.  331 


God  literally  spake  through  them  and  challenged 
the  obedience  of  believers.  Hence  we  read :  tv  No 
prophet  while  speaking  in  (the)  Spirit  shall  ye  try  or 
judge.  For  every  sin  shall  be  forgiven ;  but  this  sin 
(i.  e.,  against  the  Holy  Spirit)  shall  not  be  forgiven." 
One  recalls  the  words,  "  Quench  not  the  Spirit,  de- 
spise not  prophesyings."  But  experience  had  shown 
the  need  of  a  test  of  the  proper  kind,  namely  of  con- 
duct, to  which  they  were  as  amenable  as  others. 
44  Yet  not  every  one  that  '  speaketh  in  (the)  Spirit ' 
(i.  e.,  in  the  style  of  such  utterance)  is  a  prophet,  but 
only  if  he  have  the  Lord's  ways.  From  their  ways, 
then,  shall  be  recognized  the  false  prophet  and  the 
prophet.  And  no  prophet  in  prescribing  a  Table 
(*.  e.,  a  Love-Feast)  shall  eat  of  it ;  else  is  he  a  false 
prophet."  Such  a  precaution  has  in  view  ill-living 
teachers  such  as  meet  us  also  in  the  Ascension  of 
Isaiah  and  Jude.  Again,  "  whosoever  saith  in  (the) 
Spirit,  Give  me  money  or  any  other  things,  him  ye 
shall  not  heed :  but  if  he  say  concerning  others  in 
need,  that  aught  be  given,  let  none  judge  him." 

So  much  for  one  form  in  which  prerogative  was 
liable  to  abuse.  Another  prerogative  that  was  be- 
ginning to  cause  some  scandal,  is  alluded  to  in  a 
provision  at  first  sight  obscure.  "No  prophet,  ap- 
proved genuine,  shall  be  judged  at  your  bar  for  an 
act  by  way  of  an  earthly  mystery  of  the  Church,  if 
he  teach  not  (others)  to  do  all  that  he  himself  doth. 
For  with  God  hath  he  his  judgment:  since  in  like 
manner  did  also  the  ancient  prophets."  That  is, 
Christian  prophets  equally  with  those  of  the  Old 
Testament,  were  apt  to  do  things  startling,  nay  even 


332  The  Apostolic  Age. 


suspicious,  as  object-lessons  in  heavenly  realities.  In 
so  doing  a  real  prophet  was  to  have  a  very  free  hand 
— even  where  delicacy  might  have  stepped  in  to 
check  others — so  long  as  he  confined  such  symbolic 
action  to  himself  and  did  not  try  to  involve  others 
therein.  The  danger  was  the  greater  in  the  type  of 
symbolism  specified,  namely  that  bodying  forth  the 
Church  and  the  mystery  of  heavenly  love. 

Though  prophets  often  travelled  about  among  the 
churches  of  a  region,  as  having  a  precious  gift  in 
trust  for  all,  yet  if  a  true  prophet  wished  to  settle  in 
a  given  church  he  was  to  be  counted  "  worthy  of 
his  meat."  And  the  like  held  good  of  the  third 
order  of  Charismatic  persons  named  in  the  Didaclie 
(as  in  1  Cor.  xii.  28;  cf.  Acts  xiii.  1),  Teachers,  men 
of  reflective  rather  than  original  or  spontaneous  in- 
sight.1 Both  classes  are  entitled  to  the  first-fruits  in 
kind,2  which  would  under  the  Old  Covenant  have 
gone  to  the  Levitic  priesthood ;  but  particularly 
the  prophets,  "for  they  are  your  chief-priests." 
Then  in  a  sequence  exactly  recalling  Ecclesiasticus 
(vii.  31,  32),  it  is  added:  "But  if  ye  have  not  a 
prophet,  give  to  the  poor  instead,"  a  precept  linked 
to  the  foregoing  by  the  sentiment  found  in  Polycarp, 
that  the  widows  are  "  God's  altar." 

Next,  as  to  ordinary  brethren  coming  as  strangers 
to  a  church,  the  rule  is  that  such  should  first  be  wel- 

1  What  the  Apostolic  age  would,  perhaps,  have  called  ethical 
"Wisdom"  (aofia),  iu  contrast  to  theoretic  "Knowledge" 
(yvwats),  to  use  the  language  of  1  Cor.  xii.  8,  cf.  xiii.  2. 

2 So  Gal.  vi.  6.  "Let  him  that  is  under  instruction  in  the  word 
communicate  to  his  instructor  in  all  goods  of  life." 


Conditions  of  the  Eucharist.  333 

corned  in  virtue  of  the  Lord's  Name,1  but  that  some 
sort  of  moral  scrutiny  should  then  be  exercised  ;  for 
"ye  shall  have  an  all-round  prudence.  If,  then,  the 
comer  is  a  wayfarer,  help  him  as  far  as  you  can.  Yet 
shall  he  not  remain  with  you  more  than  two  or  three 
days,  if  need  be.  But  if  he  is  for  settling  among 
you,  being  a  craftsman,  let  him  work  and  eat.  If, 
however,  he  hath  no  craft,  according  to  your  pru- 
dence ye  shall  provide  how  that  a  Christian  shall  not 
live  in  idleness  with  you.  But  if  he  refuses  so  to  do, 
he  is  one  that  maketh  merchandise  of  Christ.  Be- 
ware of  such."  This  temper,  truly  fraternal  and 
yet  chastened  by  experience  unto  a  thoughtfulness 
ifar  from  other-worldly,  is  admirably  illustrated  from 
a  document  of  much  later  date  but  embodying  the 
conservative  type  of  life  in  these  Syrian  regions,  the 
so-called  Epistle  of  Clement  to  James.2  There  Elders 
are  bidden  to  find  for  those  without  a  craft  an  osten- 
sible means  of  livelihood  by  employment;  and  the 
terse  maxim  is  enunciated,  "For  the  craftsman  work, 
for  the  infirm  alms  "  (lit.  "  mercy  ").  And,  no  doubt, 
in  this  part  of  the  Didache  too,  it  is  the  seniors  of 
each  church,  as  distinct  from  the  juniors,  that  are 
mainly  addressed. 

We  pass  next  to  the  section  setting  forth  the  con- 
ditions of  a  pure  and  acceptable  Eucharistic  gather- 
ing.    "And  on  the  Lord's  'Lord's  Day'  (a  strange 

!The  attitude  is  just  that  recorded  by  Josephus  of  the  Essenes 
towards  brethren  from  a  distance.  And  :>s  yet  there  is  no  sign  of 
letters  of  introduction  or  recognized  tokens  (tcsserie)  as  in  use. 

9  It  is  probable  that  its  author  knew  the  Didache.  But  its  ex- 
panded form  often  proves  at  least  a  good  commentary. 


334  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

phrase  marking  it  sharply  off  from  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath) assemble  and  break  bread  and  make  Eu- 
charist, having  already  confessed  your  transgressions 
that  your  sacrifice  may  be  pure."  These  words  give 
in  authentic  fashion  the  primitive  conception  of  the 
Christian  Sacrifice,  namely  self-oblation  in  one's  gift 
to  God,  an  oblation  whose  value  depends  upon  the 
moral  state  of  the  offerer,  particularly  in  relation  to 
his  fellows.  Its  spirit  is  set  forth  in  Matt.  v.  21-24. 
There  as  here  the  profaning  thing  is  ill-will,  the  ne- 
gation of  love.  "If,  then,  thou  art  offering  thy  gift 
at  the  altar,  and  there  rememberest  that  thy  brother 
hath  aught  against  thee,  leave  thy  gift  before  the  al- 
tar and  go  thy  way,  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother, 
and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift."  The  altar  has 
changed,  but  the  conception  of  the  sacrifice  or  hom- 
age abides:  and  it  is  the  transgression  against  man 
rather  than  the  sin  against  God  (which  calls  for  pri- 
vate confession)  that  is  emphasized  as  defiling  the 
sacrifice  of  oneself  and  one's  all  to  the  Giver  of  all. 
Thus  the  "Shepherd"  bids  Hennas  fast  occasionally 
in  order  to  help  some  destitute  person  with  the  pro- 
ceeds of  self-denial ;  then  indeed  "  shall  thy  sacrifice  l 
be  acceptable  with  God  "  (Sim.  V.  iii.  8).  In  like 
spirit  our  manual  repeats:  "Let  no  one  harboring 
his  grudge  against  his  fellow  assemble  with  you,  un- 
til they  be  reconciled,  lest  your  sacrifice  be  profaned. 
For  this  is  that  which  was  spoken  by  the  Lord :  In 
every  place  and  time  offer  to  Me  a  pure  sacrifice  ;  for  a 
great  King  am  /,  saith  the  Lord,  and  My  name  is  ivon- 

1  Ecclus.  xxxv.  2.     "He  that  requiteth  a  good  turn  offereth  fine 
flour  ;  and  he  that  giveth  alms  sacrificeth  a  thank-offering." 


The  Election  of  Bishops  and  Deacons.       335 

derful  among  the  Gentiles.''''  This  quotation  from 
Malachi  i.  11,  14,  became  a  stock  proof-text  for  the 
Eucharistic  sacrifice,  the  only  type  which  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  Dialogue  with  the  Jew  Trypho  about 
the  middle  of  the  next  century,  recognizes  as  pleasing 
to  God  {Dial.  41,  117).  And  the  question  occurs, 
Who  set  the  example  of  this  application?  Probably 
our  Didache.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  it  was 
known  to  Justin,  a  Syrian  Christian  to  begin  with ; 
but  further  Irenseus  seems  to  cite  this  passage  as  the 
fountain-head  of  his  own  usage.  "  Those  who  have 
closely  studied  the  second  '  injunctions  of  the  apos- 
tles are  aware  that  the  Lord  instituted  a  new  obla- 
tion in  the  New  Covenant,  in  accordance  with  the 
saying  of  Malachi  the  prophet."  Here  the  appeal 
is  made,  not  to  the  Gospels,  but  to  Apostolic  tradi- 
tion as  the  source  of  this  Eucharistic  doctrine ;  and 
the  phraseology  is  such  as  to  suggest  a  written  source, 
in  fact  our  Didache.  If  this  be  so,  it  is  a  fresh  proof 
how  representative  a  writing  the  Didache  was  for  a 
century  after  its  origin. 

In  close  connection  with  this  idea  of  the  Christians' 
oblation  of  themselves  as  "  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
acceptable  unto  God — a  rational  act  of  worship" 
(Rom.  xii.  1),  we  get  the  first  mention  of  special 
ministers  in  the  community.  "  Elect,  therefore,  for 
yourselves  bishops  and  deacons  worthy  of  the  Lord, 
men  meek  and  free  from  love  of  money  and  true  and 

'"Second  injunctions"  (deuripat  Siard^ei^),  as  coming  after 
those  which  Irenseus  (Fragru.  36,  ed.  Harvey)  sees  in  Acts  xv.  24 
ff.  ;  for  he  goes  on  to  refer  quite  separately  to  Paul's  teaching 
in  Rom.  xii.  1,  (Heb.  xiii.  15),  and  John's  in  Rev.  v.  8. 


336  The  Apostolic  Age. 

attested.  For  unto  you  they  minister,  these  also,  the 
ministry  of  the  prophets  and  teachers."  A  primary 
function,  then,  of  the  bishops  and  deacons  of  each 
church  was  to  preside  at  its  Eucharistic  service,  and 
to  lead  in  the  recitation  of  the  liturgical  prayers 
already  given,  always  supposing  no  prophet  was 
present  within  or  without  their  body.  Very  note- 
worthy is  the  fact  that  both  bishops  and  deacons  are 
defined  by  the  same  set  of  qualifications,  as  though 
they  were  but  senior  and  junior  colleagues,  differing 
in  the  actual  parts  taken  in  such  ministry  but  not  as 
yet  divided  into  two  distinct  orders.  In  fact  they 
differ  much  as  the  "prophets  and  teachers "  with 
whom  they  are  compared.  The  functions  hinted  at 
by  the  adjectives  "  meek"  and  so  on,  are  those  of  dis- 
cipline and  administration  of  funds.  Hence  we  may 
infer  that  these  were  their  original  duties,  while  yet 
they  were  gradually  growing  into  something  like  a 
fixed  place  in  the  lead  of  Eucharistic  worship,  as 
prophetic  gifts  decreased  in  the  churches.  It  is  need- 
ful, then,  to  remind  the  brethren  that  these  more  or- 
dinary men — less  marked  by  gifts  of  grace  than  the 
prophets  and  teachers,  who  had  hitherto  taken  the 
lead  in  the  priesthood  of  representative  prayer  and 
thanksgiving  (especially  at  the  Thanksgiving) — are 
yet  entitled  to  something  like  the  same  honor. 
"  Therefore  despise  them  not ;  for  these  are  they  that 
are  your  honored  ones  (e.  g.,  by  the  gifts  of  the  peo- 
ple) along  with  the  prophets  and  teachers." 

The  main  reason  for  naming  these  officers  at  this 
point,  must  have  been  the  part  taken  by  them  not  so 
much  in  the  Eucharist  itself,  as  in  the  purification 


Concern  for  Purity  of  Communion.  337 

of  the  brotherhood  from  all  enmity  previous  to  the 
act  of  Communion.  For  the  manual  continues: 
"But  rebuke  one  another  not  in  wrath  but  in  peace, 
as  ye  have  it  in  the  Gospel ;  and  with  any  at  variance 
with  his  neighbor  let  none  speak,  or  listen  to  him, 
until  he  repent."  This  means  that  before  the  Eu- 
charist enquiry  took  place  into  all  causes  of  discoid, 
and  efforts  were  made  by  remonstrance,  first  private 
and  then  public  (according  to  Matt,  xviii.  15-17),  to 
reconcile  the  estranged  parties ;  in  order  that  the 
Kiss  of  Peace,  which  preceded  the  Communion  meal, 
might  be  no  profane  mockery.  In  such  scrutiny  the 
official  heads  of  the  community  would  naturally  play 
an  increasing  part,  to  prevent  cases  coming  before 
the  church  as  a  whole  in  judicial  session,  as  other- 
wise happened.  This  truly  Christian  work  of  arbi- 
tration between  brethren  is  referred  to  in  1  Cor.  v. 
5  f.,  when  as  yet  it  was  not  reduced  to  any  system. 
But  we  have  in  the  Syrian  Didaskalia,  the  more  elab- 
orate body  of  church  ordinances  which  in  the  third 
century  superseded  the  then  too  simple  and  archaic 
Didachc,  a  very  vivid  picture  of  a  literal  church- 
court,  hearing  cases  between  brethren  under  the 
presidency  of  its  officers  (see  below,  on  Discipline). 

The  closing  words  of  the  ecclesiastical  portion 
proper  of  the  Didache  are : — "  But  your  vows  and 
alms  and  all  your  deeds  so  do,  as  ye  have  in  the 
Gospel  of  our  Lord."  What  then  is  meant  by  "  the 
Gospel,"  several  times  referred  to  as  norm  or  stand- 
ard of  action?  Is  it  a  written  Gospel?  Hardly. 
Were  it  so,  then  we  should  learn  that  there  was  only 
one  "gospel  "  known  in  the  region  in  question.  But 
V 


338  The  Apostolic  Age. 

even  this  is  not  so  probable,  because  not  so  much  in 
the  manner  of  this  early  time,  as  that  the  Gospel  as 
a  message  is  meant  throughout;  as  when  Paul,  for 
instance,  speaks  of  Timothy  as  a  minister  of  God 
"in  the  Gospel  of  the  Christ."  This  will  become 
clearer  when  we  come  to  the  origin  of  our  Gospels. 

The  epilogue  to  the  Didache  (ch.  xvi.),  whether  it 
was  originally  part  of  an  edition  of  about  62-65 
A.  D.  or  was  appended  a  little  later,  is  occupied  with 
the  Last  Things;  and  has  strong  affinities  with  the 
earliest  Christian  literature  of  this  order,  particularly 
that  shortly  before  and  after  70  A.  D.  It  is  true 
that  it  has  several  points  of  contact  with  what  Paul 
was  expecting  as  early  as  the  winter  of  50-51  (2 
Thess.  i.  6-10,  ii.  1-12).  But  it  is  with  the  views 
set  forth  in  the  Christian  portion  of  the  Ascension  of 
Isaiah  that  it  has  most  in  common ;  and  it,  again, 
suggests  those  of  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas  and  the 
parts  of  the  Sibylline  Oracles  that  reflect  feeling 
shortly  after  Nero's  death.  The  great  difference  be- 
tween its  outlook  and  that  common  to  these  kindred 
writings,  is  the  absence  of  all  clear  reference  to 
Nero  as  the  Man  of  Sin  or  Antichrist.  Its  de- 
scription of  the  embodiment  of  forces  antagonistic 
to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  here  called  simply  "the 
World-Deceiver,"  is  on  quite  vague  and  traditional 
lines.  And  this,  to  judge  from  most  of  the  pictures 
of  Antichrist  between  the  death  of  Nero  and  the  end 
of  the  century,  would  not  have  been  the  case  were 
the  passage  post-Neronian.  For  the  Christians 
shared  to  the  full  the  popular  belief  that  Nero,  so 


The  Epilogue.  339 


superhuman,  as  it  seemed,  in  the  extravagances  of 
every  sort  that  marked  his  closing  years,  could  not 
be  dead  and.  gone  forever.  He  must  be  but  in  hiding 
for  a  season,  perhaps  among  the  Parthians ;  at  any 
rate  he  would,  soon  reappear  to  wreak  vengeance  on 
all  his  foes.  We  may  take  it,  then,  that  our  Didache 
represents  the  Last  Things  as  they  appeared  to  North 
Syrian  Christians  between  the  death  of  James  and 
the  breaking  out  of  the  Jewish  War,  an  event  which 
could  hardly  fail  to  color  in  some  degree  any  setting 
forth  of  the  signs  of  the  times  between  66-68.  Nero 
had  already  begun  his  final  frantic  course,  which 
after  the  events  of  64  must  have  riveted  Christian 
attention ;  and  so  the  moment  of  greater  crisis  was 
felt  to  be  near.1  At  such  an  hour  this  manifesto  of 
the  received  Apostolic  tradition  utters  its  closing 
words  of  warning. 

"  Watch  on  behalf  of  your  life.  Let  not  yonr  lamps  be 
quenched  or  yonr  loins  ungirt,  but  be  ye  in  readiness  ;  for  ye  know 
not  the  hour  in  which  our  Lord  corneth.  But  assemble  together 
constantly,  seeking  the  things  that  concern  your  souls  :  since  the 
whole  time  of  your  faith  shall  not  profit  you  except  in  the  last 
season  ye  be  found  perfected.  For  in  the  last  days  shall  the  false- 
prophets  and  the  corrupters  be  multiplied,  and  the  sheep  shall 
turn  to  wolves  and  love  shall  turn  to  hate.  For  as  Lawlessness  in- 
creaseth  they  shall  hate  one  auother  and  shall  persecute  and  deliver 
up;  and  then  shall  appear  the  World-Deceiver  as  Son  of  God,  and 
shall  do  signs  and  wonders,  and  the  earth  shall  be  delivered  into 
his  hands,  and  he  shall  do  abominations  such  as  have  never  been 
in  the  world's  history.  Then  shall  the  creature,  humanity,  come 
into  the  fiery  ordeal  of  testing,  and  many  shall  be  offended  and 
shall  perish:  but  they  that  endure  in  their  faith  shall  be  saved 

1  As  in  the  Christian  section  of  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah. 


340  The  Apostolic  Age. 

by  the  very  Curse  itself.1  And  then  shall  appear  the  signs  of  the 
Truth  :  first  the  sign  of  an  Outspreading  in  heaven,  next  the  sign 
of  a  Trumpet-call,  and  third,  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead — yet 
not  of  all,  but  as  it  is  said  '  The  Lord  shall  come  and  all  His 
saints  with  Him.'  Then  shall  the  world  see  the  Lord  coming 
upon  the  clouds  of  heaven." 

The  whole  is  drawn  on  quite  different  lines  from 
those  of  our  Gospels,  though  there  is  a  certain  par- 
allelism of  phrase  in  its  opening  words,  due  to  fa- 
miliarity with  the  Evangelic  tradition.  Its  affinities 
are  rather  with  St.  Paul's  earlier  apocalyptic  con- 
ceptions found  in  the  Thessalonian  epistles,  and 
with  other  apocalyptic  writings,  Jewish  and  Chris- 
tian. Thus  the  idea  of  three  signs  ushering  in  God's 
presence  for  salvation  and  judgment  appears  in  the 
Sibylline  Oracles.  What,  however,  is  the  meaning 
of  the  first  sign  here  called  that  of  "  outspreading  in 
heaven  "  ?  The  nearest  verbal  parallel  is  in  Ecclesi- 
asticus  xliii.  14,  where  the  phenomenon  of  clouds 
"  flying  forth  as  fowls "  is  described  among  tokens 
of  the  power  of  the  Most  High.  Accordingly  it  is 
best  to  take  the  "flying  forth"  here  in  question  as 
expressing  either  the  coming  of  Messiah  "  with  the 
clouds  of  heaven,"  according  to  Daniel,  or  the 
clouds  of  angels  accompanying  Messiah.     The  latter 

1  Tbe  alternative  renderings  of  this  enigmatic  clause  are:  (1)  to 
take  it  in  the  sense  of  Barn.  viii.  6,  which  teaches  that  it  will  be 
in  "evil  and  foul  days  "  that  the  saints  "shall  be  saved  "  :  or  (2) 
to  take  the  Curse  to  refer  to  the  Christ,  also  after  the  manner  of 
Barnabas  (vii.  7,  9;  cf.  Gal.  iii.  13),  who  treats  the  "accursed" 
goat  (Lev.  xvi.  8)  as  type  of  Jesus  (calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  accursed  one  was  crowned  with  the  scarlet  wool),  and 
imagines  His  Jewish  enemies  recognizing  Him  at  His  Coming  by 
"  the  scarlet  robe  about  His  flesh."     The  latter  is  best. 


The  Three  Signs.  341 


view  has  the  merit  of  making  the  three  signs  corre- 
spond with  those  of  1  Thess.  iv.  14-16,  namely  "  the 
revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  from  heaven  with  angels 
of  power  "  (cf.  2  Thess.  i.  7),  the  archangel's  trumpet- 
call,  and  the  resurrection  of  "  the  dead  in  Christ," 
who  with  those  alive  on  earth  join  the  Lord  in  the 
sky. 

This  view  is  supported  by  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah, 
which  not  only  refers  to  "the  angel  of  the  Christian 
Church — which  is  in  the  heavens — who  shall  call  in 
the  last  days,"  but  says  that  "  the  Lord  shall  come 
with  His  angels  and  with  the  hosts  of  the  saints  from 
the  seventh  heaven,  with  the  glory  of  the  seventh 
heaven,  and  will  commit  to  Gehenna  Berial  and  his 
forces  (cf.  Rev.  xix.  20).  And  He  will  give  rest  (cf. 
2  Thess.  i.  7;  Heb.  iv.  11)  to  such  as  He  shall  find 
in  the  body  in  this  world,  to  wit  the  godly,  even  to 
all  who  for  faith  in  Him  execrated  Berial  and  his 
kings."  It  is  added  that  the  saints  in  the  Lord's 
train  come  clothed  with  heavenly  vesture  ;  and  that 
when  they  join  those  yet  on  earth,  the  Lord  stablish- 
eth  the  latter  in  the  vesture  of  saints  (cf.  Matt.  xxii. 
11  f.),  and  Himself  ministers  to  them  (Luke  xii.  3) 
that  have  been  watchful  in  this  world.  Afterwards 
they  betake  themselves  upwards  in  their  new  vesture 
and  leave  their  bodies  in  the  world.  In  all  this  ac- 
count, the  amplifications  prove  that  this  apocalyptist 
is  later  than  Did.  xvi.  and  is  perhaps  expanding  its 
hints.1 

1  The  view  that  the  "  Outspreading  in  heaven  "  meant  a  vision 
of  the  Crucified  returning  with  outspread  arms — if  it  be  really  in 
the  Sibylline  Oracles  at  all,  e.  g.,  viii.  302  [age  of  the  Antoniues], 


342  The  Apostolic  Age. 


From  the  same  source  we  can  illustrate  the  order  of 
events,  whereby  the  Didache  makes  the  Lord's  coming 
to  the  world  in  judgment  subsequent,  immediately 
subsequent,  to  the  rapture  of  the  Saints.  "  Then  shall 
the  voice  of  Beloved  chide  in  anger  this  heaven  and 
this  earth  .  .  .  and  everything  wheresoever  Berial 
manifested  himself  and  wrought  openly  in  this  world. 
And  there  shall  be  a  resurrection  and  judgment  in 
their  midst  in  those  days ;  and  Beloved  shall  cause 
to  arise  out  of  it  fire  to  consume  all  the  ungodly  ; l 
and  they  shall  be  as  if  they  had  not  been  created." 

In  expectations  such  as  these,  amid  dark  and 
threatening  clouds  on  which  already  faith  could 
catch  the  glint  of  the  glory  and  judgment  soon  to 
be  revealed,  did  earnest  Christians  in  North  Syria 
live  their  life  of  obedience  and  patience  during  the 
Period  of  Transition  between  the  withdrawal  of  the 
heroic  figures  of  the  past  generation  and  the  birth  of 
a  new  era  through  the  travail-pangs  of  the  great  cri- 
sis in  JudEea  in  66-70.  The  full  bearings  of  the  De- 
struction of  the  Holy  City  and  its  Temple  could  not, 
of  course,  at  once  be  perceived.  How  much  of  the 
essential  truth  of  their  previous  apocalyptic  notions 
of  the  Return  and  Reign  of  Jesus  as  the  Lord's 
Christ  did  this  fulfil  ?  How  much,  if  anything,  did 
it  leave  over  unfulfilled  ?  It  was  some  time  ere  the 
new  questions  of  this  sort  really  began  to  dawn  on 
the   common  consciousness.     They  felt  it  was  a  stu- 

"He  shall  stretch  forth  His  hands  and  shall  embrace  (measure) 
all  the  world  "  (in  the  description  of  the  Crucifixion) — is  cer- 
tainly a  secondary  one:  cf.  Barn.  xii.  2-4. 
1  Isaiah  xi.  4  ;  2  Thess.  i.  8,  ii.  8. 


The  New  Conception.  343 

pendous  event  that  had  occurred ;  that  the  Old  Cove- 
nant had  outwardly  passed  away.  And  so  far,  as  well 
as  in  practical  matters  touching  the  relation  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles  in  the  Messianic  Ecclesia,  the  air  was 
cleared.  But  as  regards  the  larger  providential  bear- 
ing of  this  catastrophe  on  the  world-history  of  the 
Kingdom,  its  development  and  duration  on  earth, 
they  at  best  "  saw  men  as  trees  walking."  Nor  can 
it  be  said  that  the  Christian  Church  has  even  yet 
attained  to  clear  consciousness  on  the  magnitude  of 
the  change  of  ideals  involved  in  that  Divine  annul- 
ling of  the  hitherto  prevalent  assumption,  namely 
that  a  bodily  return  of  Messiah  in  judgment  on  His 
rejecters,  and  particularly  the  Jewish  people,  was 
the  true  goal  of  the  Christian's  Hope.  For  in  this 
particular  form  of  the  hope  a  principle  was  involved, 
a  way  of  conceiving  God's  Kingdom  and  the  methods 
of  its  full  realization  on  earth.  And  with  the  gradual 
falsification  of  that  hope,  its  principle  must  itself  be 
recognized  to  have  given  place  to  another  more  in 
keeping  with  the  ways  of  God  in  history. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   EPISTLE   OF   JUDE   AND   II   PETER. 

E  have  already  seen  that  the  unsettle- 
ment  among  Syrian  Christians  between 
60-70  A.  D.,  unlike  that  in  the  churches 
of  Asia  Minor  addressed  in  1  Peter,  was 
due  largely  to  internal  dissensions.  Of 
the  continuance  of  this  state  of  things  we  find 
evidence  in  the  epistle  known  as  Second  Peter 
and  that  by  Jude.  Both  present  special  difficulties 
on  account  of  their  want  of  obvious  points  of  con- 
tact with  the  known  history  of  the  Apostolic  Age : 
but  our  study  of  the  Didache  may  have  done  some- 
thing to  supply  the  true  background.  The  two 
epistles  are  more  closely  related  than  any  other  two 
in  the  New  Testament.  For  the  one  clearly  borrows 
from  the  other.  But  which  is  the  more  original? 
This  literary  problem  is  too  complicated  to  discuss 
here,  but  is  dealt  with  in  the  Literary  Appendix. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  priority  of  Jude  to  2 
Peter  as  it  stands  may  be  safely  assumed ;  yet  it  is 
by  no  means  certain  that  2  Peter  now  appears  in  its 
original  form.  In  these  circumstances  we  must  base 
our  picture  in  the  main  upon  Jude's  statments,  and 
must  let  it  apply  to  the  decade  after  70  A.  D.,  even 
more  than  to  the  years  just  before  it. 

The  errorists  in  question  erred  mainly  in  matters  of 
conduct.     Even  their  denial  of  the  Lord  was  prob- 

344 


Current  View  of  the  Unseen  World.  345 

ably  that  involved  in  participation  in  idol-feasts.1 
Yet  a  certain  perverted  theory  underlay  their  prac- 
tice. They  defended  their  actions  as  allowed  by 
that  "grace"  into  which  they  had  been  brought  by 
faith.  They  may  even  have  quoted  Pauline  phrases 
to  this  purpose.  Such  a  possibility  had  confronted 
St.  Paul'  himself  as  early  as  55  A.  D.,  through  his 
experiences  at  Corinth  (Rom.  vi.  1).  But  their 
peculiar  notion  of  the  bondage  which  they  conceived 
themselves  to  have  renounced  for  the  "freedom  "  of 
the  Gospel,  is  hinted  at  in  the  statement  that  their 
fleshly  defilement  was  associated  with  a  repudiation 
of  "  lordship  "  and  a  blaspheming  of  "  glories."  This 
is  obscure  to  the  modern  reader  only  because  he  is 
not  aware  of  the  background  of  traditional  and 
superstitious  beliefs  that  existed  from  the  first  even 
in  Christian  minds,  but  were  kept  in  abeyance  as 
long  as  the  power  of  fresh  faith  was  unimpaired. 
Time,  however,  with  its  slow  but  potent  alchemy 
gradually  destroyed  this  relation  between  the  old 
and  the  new.  "  The  love  of  many  waxed  cold." 
The  delay  of  the  Lord's  return  had  an  unsettling 
effect,  causing  men  to  fall  more  and  more  under  the 
sway  of  the  ordinary  forces  of  human  nature  and  of 
society,  and  then  by  the  aid  of  old  beliefs  to  frame 
theories  to  explain  and  justify  their  practice. 

In  this  case,  it  is  the  current  view  of  the  unseen 
world,  as  containing  two  hierarchies  of  angels,  the 
bad  and  the  good,  each  with  its  own  laws  of  action 

1  "  Ye  cannot  share  in  the  table  of  the  Lord  and  the  table  of  de- 
mons" (1  Cor.  x.  21).  For  the  conjunction  of  this  with  unchas- 
tity,  compare  the  Nicolaitans  of  Rev.  ii.  14  f.,  20,  24. 


346  The  Apostolic  Age. 

upon  human  life,  that  intrudes  as  a  deflecting  factor 
in  the  Christian  consciousness.  Already  we  have 
seen  it  at  work  at  Colossse  in  Paul's  last  days. 
Only  here  the  same  views  work  out  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Paul  had  to  check  the  tendency  to  seek 
deliverance  in  life's  moral  conflict  by  reliance  on 
good  angelic  beings,  to  checkmate  the  machinations 
of  their  evil  doubles.  Now  certain  men  have  lost  the 
sound  Christian  instinct  which  feels  fleshly  lusts  to 
be  themselves  the  worst  bondage.  Being  satisfied 
that  their  salvation  was  secured  by  their  having  been 
placed,  once  and  for  all  in  baptism,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  Christ  as  supreme  in  the  unseen  world — 
so  that  the  hierarchy  of  evil  spirits  can  no  longer 
touch  them — they  feel  free  to  follow  their  own  im- 
pulses, and  to  scoff  at  the  "potentates"  of  ill 
whose  "lordship"  they  had  finally  repudiated  at 
baptism. '  This  gives  us  the  key  to  the  contrast 
which  immediately  follows,  between  their  attitude 
to  mighty  spirits  of  ill  and  that  of  even  the  arch- 
angel Michael  to  the  devil,  as  set  forth  in  the  apoc- 
ryphal Assumption  of  Moses,  a  story  innocently  cited 
by  the  simple  Galilean  Jude,  just  as  the  Book  of 
Enoch  is  cited  as  genuine  four  verses  later. 

Thus  these  men  were  not  Gnostics,  in  the  com- 
monly understood  sense,  any  more  than  certain  of 
the  Colossians  were  Gnostics.     They  did  indeed  con- 

1  We  are  not  warranted  in  believing  that  the  formal  "  renuncia- 
tion of  the  devil  and  all  his  pomp"  (i.  e.,  angelic  hierarchy)  was 
already  a  part  of  the  baptismal  rite.  But  this  idea  of  its  nature 
and  effect  was  doubtless  held  in  certain  circles.  The  mode  of 
thought,  as  an  element  in  contemporary  Judaism,  is  witnessed  by 
the  Testament  of  Solomon. 


Antinomian  Theology.  347 

ceive  salvation  as  "  spiritual "  in  a  physical  rather 
than  an  ethical  sense,  a  matter  of  the  "  dynasty  "  a 
man  was  under,  rather  than  of  the  renewed  will. 
What  determined  the  exchange,  of  realms  was  a  kind 
of  "  knowledge,"  the  sort  of  wisdom  that  we  associ- 
ate with  the  wizard.  But  beyond  these  general 
features,  which  marked  50-100  A.  D.  as  much  as 
100-150  A.  D.,  there  is  nothing  Gnostic  about  these 
antinomians.  Their  affinities  are  rather  with  the 
Nicolaitans  of  provincial  Asia  as  described  in  John's 
Apocalypse,  men  who  held  the  moral  indifference  of 
actions  for  those  "emancipated"  by  faith.1  The 
general  type  was  already  discerned  and  described  by 
Paul,  in  writing  to  Timothy  at  Ephesus  of  men 
"  holding  a  form  of  godliness,  but  having  denied  the 
power  thereof  "  (i.  e.,  by  their  moral  practice,  2  Tim. 
iii.  5).  Indeed  what  he  says  of  their  moral  tone 
holds  also  of  these  men.  For  Jude  calls  them 
"murmurers,  grumblers  at  their  lot,  walking  after 
their  (own)  desires — and  their  mouth  uttereth  swell- 
ing words — showing  respect  of  persons  for  the  sake 
of  advantage." 

Behind  such  a  description,  taken  along  with  other 
hints  that  imply  the  claim  to  play  a  leading  part 
among  the  brethren,  we  may  see  more  than  appears 
on  the  surface ;  namely,  a  state  of  things  similar  to 
that  which  prompted  the  publication  of  the  "  Teach- 
ing of  the  Twelve  Apostles."     "  These,"  says  Jude, 

1  The  affinity  is  enforced  by  the  analogy  to  Balaam's  teaching  in 
either  case,  "  who  taught  Balak  to  cast  a  stuinbliug-block  in  the 
way  of  the  children  of  Israel,  even  the  eating  of  idol-meats  and 
fornication  "  (Rev.  ii.  14  f.). 


348  The  Apostolic  Age. 

"are  they  who  are  sunken  reefs  in  your  Love-feasts 
as  they  feast  with  3^011,  shepherds,  as  it  were,  that 
boldly  pasture  themselves."  Here  our  thoughts  are 
carried  back  to  the  Didache  and  its  warnings 
against  "prophets"  who  order,  in  the  Spirit,  a  Love- 
feast  for  their  own  enjoyment.  We  even  get  fresh 
insight  into  its  allusion  to  the  possibility  of  a 
"  prophet "  conveying  some  lesson  in  a  manner  that 
would  be  unseemly  in  others.  How  liable  to  abuse, 
under  the  cloak  of  naive  Christian  Love,  the  pro- 
phetic carte  blanche  at  love-feasts  must  have  been, 
one  can  well  imagine,  even  without  the  hint  which 
2  Peter  ii.  14,  adds  in  borrowing  Jude's  words. 
And  yet  further  light  is  thrown  on  the  subject  by 
John's  denunciation  of  the  "  prophetess "  Jezebel 
(Rev.  ii.  20)  ;  with  whom  the  parallel  is  the  closer 
that  she  and  her  dupes  boasted  that  their  insight 
into  "  the  deep  things  of  Satan  "  exempted  them  from 
all  harm  from  heathen  conduct,  in  the  way  already 
explained. 

It  was  this  awful  caricature  of  the  Christian  re- 
demption (not  from  sin,  but  in  sin)  that  the  would- 
be  "prophets,"  whom  Jude  has  mainly  in  view,  tried 
to  impose  on  "  the  Saints."  And  it  was  the  firm  re- 
sistance which  they  met  with,  in  the  protests  of  the 
duly  appointed  local  ministry,  representing  continu- 
ous Apostolic  tradition  in  each  church — mainly  of  a 
moral  kind — which  led  them  to  complain  bitterly  of 
God  as  well  as  of  man,  touching  their  "  hard  fate  " 
in  not  having  their  prophetic  vocation  recognized 
and  deferred  to.  In  these  circumstances  they  pro- 
ceeded to  create  separate  coteries,  in  order  to  pander 


Jude's  Ethical  Teaching.  349 

to  their  own  egoism,  as  if  in  disproof  of  their  claim 
to  the  Spirit  in  a  special  degree  (v.  19). 

But  as  it  was  their  utter  lack  of  true  love  that 
gave  the  lie  to  their  spurious  spirituality ;  so  too  it 
was  in  such  love,  rooted  in  the  love  of  God,  that 
Jude  saw  the  safety  of  sincere  Christians.  Such, 
"loved  of  God  the  Father  and  preserved  in  their 
calling  by  Jesus  Christ,"  are  referred  for  the  secret 
of  steadfastness  to  the  holy  nature  of  the  faith1  that 
lived  in  them  as  the  basis  of  the  new  life,  and  to  the 
Holy  Spirit,  through  whose  initial  illumination  they 
knew  in  germ  all  that  was  essential  (20  f.  cf.  5).  Let 
them  grow  in  insight  by  divinely  prompted  prayer,  and 
walk  humbly  as  those  whose  only  ground  of  confi- 
dence lay  in  the  mercy  of  their  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
on  which  they  were  waiting  for  eternal  life.  But 
Jude  had  himself  drunk  too  deeply  of  his  Lord's 
love  to  stop  here.  His  heart  yearns  for  the  very 
men  whose  actual  state  he  has  been  denouncing 
with  all  the  passion  that  is  the  obverse  of  love  to 
God  and  His  ways.  And  so  he  urges  his  "beloved 
ones  "  to  care  for  the  souls  that  were  on  their  way  to 
"the  blackness  of  darkness."  Yet  they  must  dis- 
criminate. Some,  who  are  still  wavering,  are  to  be 
rebuked,  to  bring  them  to  their  senses ;  some,  al- 
ready in  the  fire,  are  to  be  snatched  from  it  in  haste ; 
some,  yet  further  gone,  are  to  be  approached  with 

■So  2  Peter  i.  3  f.,  where  Christians  are  "dowered  with  all  re- 
quisite to  life  and  piety,  through  full  knowledge  of  Him  who 
called  them  through  (His  own)  glory  and  excellence  ;"  wherehy 
they  are  enahled  to  become  "  sharers  in  the  Divine  nature,  escaping 
from  the  corruption  in  the  world  through  desire." 


350  The  Apostolic  Age. 

solicitous  pity  and  yet  with  due  loathing  for  fleshly 
sin  itself. 

Whether  this  gradation  of  attitude  towards  differ- 
ent types  of  men  implies  knowledge  of  the  "Two 
"Ways  "  {Did.  ii.  7)  or  not,  it  is  certainly  true  that 
there  is  much  affinity  of  tone  between  Jude's  descrip- 
tion of  the  false  teachers — their  self-seeking,  their  cor- 
rupting and  divisive  influence — and  what  we  have  in 
Did.  xi.  and  xvi.     In  the  latter  passage,  the  eschato- 
logical  exhortation,  we  read  that  the  "  last  season  " 
or  "  the  last  days  "  will  be  critical ;  for  "  false  proph- 
ets and  corrupters  "  will  abound,  and  "  the  sheep  will 
be  turned  into  wolves  and  love  will  turn  to  hate." 
As  a  safeguard  against   these   dangers,  the  faithful 
are  bidden  to  "  assemble  together  frequently."     Simi- 
larly Jude  follows  up  his  summary  of  Apostolic  warn- 
ing (17  f.)  by  the  remark,  "  these  are  they  who  cause 
separations"  in  the  Christian  society.     These  resem- 
blances  at   least   tend  to  locate   Jude's  readers  in 
Syria,  to   the  north   of  Palestine,  the   home   of  the 
Didache  and  of  the  Christian  part  of  the  Ascension  of 
Isaiah    (c.    65-66).     Such   would   naturally   be    ad- 
dressed on  the  subject  of  "  our  common  salvation  " 
by  one  revered  outside  Palestine,  as  well  as  within 
it.    For  Jude  was  at  once  the  surviving  brother  of  the 
Lord  and  of  James  the  Just,  and  a  representative  in 
that  region   of  the   collective  Apostolic  body.     On 
the  whole,  then,  we  may  date  the  Epistle  about  70- 
80  A.  D.,  to  allow  for  the  complete  disappearance  of 
the  original  Apostles   from  the  region  in  question. 
So  that  in  a  transitional  period,  beginning  about  60 
A.  D.,  and  extending  beyond  70  for  some  few  years, 


Period  of  Transition.  351 

we  may  imagine  Syrian  Christianity  harassed  with  a 
form  of  pagan  antinomianism  which  probably  tended 
not  a  little  to  hasten  the  development  of  church  or- 
ganization in  those  parts.  Many  of  the  facts,  how- 
ever, would  fit  almost  equally  into  the  conditions  of 
provincial  Asia,  as  known  to  us  about  the  same 
period. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EARLY   WRITTEN   GOSPELS. 

EHIND  all  written  Gospels  lies  the 
Gospel,  the  message  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
touching  him.  It  was  preached  and 
taught  long  years  before  men  thought  of 
committing  it  to  the  unresponsive  medium 
of  dead  papyrus.  This  method  of  propagation  was  the 
one  most  in  keeping  with  the  habits  of  the  land  of  its 
birth,  where  "  the  traditions  of  the  elders,"  referred 
to  in  our  Gospels  themselves,  were  handed  on  orally 
for  centuries.  The  more  sacred  the  deposit,  the  more 
this  was  felt  to  be  the  proper  course.  Specially  must 
it  have  been  so  with  a  message  so  spontaneous,  so 
vital  and  vitalizing,  as  the  Gospel  that  was  a  word 
of  power  and  life,  attested  and  borne  home  by  the 
manifest  Spirit  of  God.  And  if  another  reason  for 
its  continued  oral  character  be  needed,  it  is  found  in 
the  early  Church's  expectation  of  its  Lord's  return 
within  the  lifetime  of  the  original  eyewitnesses. 

The  problem,  then,  is  rather  this :  How  and  why 
did  the  Evangelic  tradition  begin  to  pass  into  writing? 
We  may  be  sure  that  none  of  the  Apostles  would 
dream  of  anything  so  formal  as  the  reduction  to  fixed 
written  form  of  their  living  memories,  save  at  the 
suggestion  of  some  great  change  in  the  conditions  of 
their  ministry.  No  doubt  such  a  change  would  come 
about  when  one  and  another  of  the  original  disciples 

352 


Christ's  Practical  Teaching.  353 

began  to  drop  out  of  the  ranks  by  "  falling  on  sleep," 
and  the  dwindling  band  of  survivors  awoke  with  a 
shock  of  surprise  to  the  fact  that  the  Kingdom  was 
to  come  by  a  longer  way  than  they  had  suspected. 
But  even  then  the  idea  of  perpetuating  their  witness 
in  writing  was  by  no  means  certain  to  occur:  for  it 
was  already  being  continued  in  more  or  less  fixed 
oral  tradition.  An  early  tradition,  indeed,  attributes 
to  the  Apostle  Matthew  the  first  Gospel  writing, 
somewhere  about  60-64  A.  D.  But  it  is  very  doubt- 
ful whether  this  really  means  more  than  that  our 
first  Gospel  had  come  into  the  hands  of  men  like 
Papias,  c.  75-100,  as  embodying  Matthew's  witness. 
That  witness  would  no  doubt  rest  on  a  basis  common 
to  him  with  his  fellow -Apostles  and  be  fixed  in  its  main 
features  during  the  early  days  of  their  preaching, 
when  they  were  living  in  close  relations  as  a  body  of 
witnesses.  But  what  is  of  special  importance  is  the 
character  of  the  memoirs.  They  were  of  Christ's 
words  rather  than  His  deeds:  and  it  is  for  the  sake 
of  the  words,  the  Sayings  [Logia)  of  Jesus,  on  which 
he  himself  was  publishing  comments,  that  Papias 
alludes  to  Matthew  as  writing  at  all.1  Christ's  teach- 
ing was  the  most  practical  thing,  as  the  basis  of  con- 
duct :  and  accordingly  it,  rather  than  His  life  and 

1  "  Matthew,  then,  in  Hebrew  compiled  the  Sayings  :  but  each 
man  had  to  interpret  them  as  best  he  conld."  Papias'  object  was 
to  substitute  standard  interpretations  in  place  of  amateur  and 
often  arbitrary  exegesis.  So  in  Apost.  Const,  i.  4,  which  repre- 
sents an  early  state  of  things,  men  are  bidden  to  "call  to  mind 
and  meditate  on  the  oracles  {Logia)  of  the  Christ"  ;  and,  just  be- 
low, to  "peruse  carefully  the  Gospel,"  defined  as  "the  comple- 
ment "  of  the  Old  Testament  writings. 
W 


354  The  Apostolic  Age. 

deeds,  first  attracted  attention.  It  was,  in  fact,  the 
new  Decalogue,  the  standard  of  Christian  living  and 
discipline  (comp.  the  "  Two  Ways,"  the  first  part  of 
the  Didache).  While  the  stories  of  the  Master's 
gracious  and  mighty  life  were  prized  as  conveying 
inspiring  ideas  of  His  person  and  spirit,  yet  there  pre- 
cision was  secondary ;  the  broad,  vivid  impression 
sufficed.  With  the  New  Law  it  was  otherwise :  the 
very  words  were  of  moment,  and  churches  were  anx- 
ious to  secure  an  exact  knowledge  of  them. 

Can  we,  however,  imagine  to  ourselves  the  prob- 
able form  of  the  primitive  apostolic  body  of  Christ's 
Sayings  or  Logia?  To  a  certain  degree  we  can. 
For  when  we  observe  that  a  large  part  of  the  Sayings 
in  our  Matthew  have  almost  verbal  parallels  in  Luhe% 
we  may  conclude  that  such  sayings  preserve  the  form 
in  which  they  were  repeated  in  the  instruction  {cate- 
chesis)  of  the  early  Palestinian  churches.  Many 
would  go  farther  and  urge  that  these  sayings  once 
stood  in  a  written  book  of  Logia  by  Matthew.1  Some 
even  hold  that  the  work  contained  a  good  deal  of 
historic  matter,  needful  as  setting  forth  the  sayings, 
which  gave  character  to  the  whole.  But  the  theory 
is  rendered  less  persuasive  by  an  analogy  which  has 
just  come  to  light,  and  which  proves  that,  in  certain 
churches  at  least,  collections  of  Jesus'  Sayings  strung 
together  by  the  mere  recurrence  of  a  formula  of  quo- 
tation met  a  felt  need.  It  shows  an  interest  in  the 
didactic  apart  from  the  historical  side  of  the  revela- 
tion in  Christ.     The  collection  in  question  is  known 

1  The  author's  reasons  for  doubting  this  will  appear  in  the  art, 
Matthew,  in  Hastings'  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  Vol.  III. 


The  "Sayings  of  Jesus."  355 


to  us  only  through  a  single  leaf,  the  eleventh,  which 
was  dug  up  in  Egypt  on  the  site  of  Oxyrhynchns,  a 
flourishing  city  in  Roman  times.'  A  probable  view 
of  the  origin  of  this  collection  is  that  it  presents  one 
type  of  oral  teaching  or  catechesis  in  local  use,  possi- 
bly at  Alexandria,  in  the  second  Christian  genera- 
tion;  for  such  of  the  sayings  as  echo  discipular 
reflection,  rather  than  the  Master's  original  words, 
have  most  affinity  with  writings  of  that  period.  It 
does  not  seem  to  utilize  our  Gospels,  so  much  as  the 
same  tradition  (oral  or  written)  as  that  upon  which 
they  are  based. 

The  sayings  are  all  put  into  the  mouth  of  Jesus 
by  the  bare  use  of  the  formula,  "Saith  Jesus."  This 
is  very  primitive  :  and  yet  it  is  unique  (apart  from 
dialogue,  as  sometimes  in  our  Gospels),  and  has  here  a 
striking  effect.  For  the  present  " saith,"  not  "said," 
has  a  mystical  force  similar  to  that  whereby  the 
Risen  Jesus  addresses  the  Seven  Churches  in  the 
book  of  Revelation,  as  the  abiding  Lord  of  man- 
kind. This  force  has  been  well  illustrated  by  Cow- 
per's  familiar  couplet  : 

"Jesus  speaks,  and  speaks  to  thee, 
Say,  poor  sinner,  lov'st  thou  Me?" 

The  dicta,  then,  are  set  forth  as  what  Jesus  is  ever 
saying,  in  a  timeless  present  of  ideal  verity  and  obli- 
gation, to   the   soul   of  man  since  the  days  of  His 

1  AOTIA  If  HOT:  Sayings  of  our  Lord,  from  an  early  Greek  papy- 
rus; discovered  and  edited  by  B.  P.  Grenfell  and  A.S.  Hunt:  1897. 
What  follows  can  only  claim  to  be  the  writer's  own  opinion,  after 
weighing  the  various  theories  on  the  subject. 


356  The  Apostolic  Age. 

flesh.1  This  will  be  seen  to  have  a  vital  bearing  on 
the  sense  of  certain  of  the  sayings.  We  cite  them 
just  as  they  begin  and  end  abruptly  on  the  papyrus. 
".  .  .  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast 
out  the  mote  that  is  in2  thy  brother's  eye." 

Saith  Jesus :  Except  ye  fast  (to)  the  world,  ye  shall 
in  no  wise  find  the  kingdom  of  Jesus;3  and  except 
ye  keep  ("  sabbatize  ")  the  Sabbath,4  ye  shall  not 
see  the  Father. 

Saith  Jesus:  I  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  world, 
and  in  flesh  did  I  appear  to  them ;  and  I  found  all 
men  drunken  and  none  found  I  athirst  among  them ; 
and  my  soul  grieveth  over  the  sons  of  men,  because 
they  are  blind  in  their  heart  and  see  not  [their  mis- 
ery and] 5  poverty. 

Saith  Jesus :  Wherever  there  are  [two,  they  are 
not  without  God];6  and  if  there  is  perchance  one 
alone,  [let  him  know]  7  I  am  with  him.  Raise  the 
stone  and  there  shalt  thou  find  Me,  cleave  the  wood 
and  there  am  I. 

1  The  phrase  turns  into  the  third  person  the  "  Verily,  I  say  unto 
you"  of  the  gospels.  The  compiler,  in  dramatic  fashion,  dis- 
cards the  past  tense  for  the  living  present  of  religious  relation  : 
and  the  repetition  of  the  formula  gives  didactic  emphasis,  like 
the  reiterated  "  My  Sou  "  of  Proverbs  or  the  "Two  Ways." 

2  Words  in  italics  agree  with  Luke  against  Matthew  or  Mark. 

3 So  the  MS  (IOT,  not  0T),  though  editors  have  overlooked  the 
fact.  The  phrase  occurs  also  in  Barnabas  viii.  5  (xi.  11),  but 
could  never  have  come  from  Christ's  own  lips. 

4 This,  like  the  fasting  just  named,  is  to  be  taken  metaphor- 
ically.    Both  probably  go  back  in  idea  to  Isaiah  Iviii.  6,  13. 

8  Words  restored  by  Dr.  Taylor  on  basis  of  Rev.  iii.  17. 

6  This  only  gives  the  probable  sense. 

7  i<TToj  sounds  better  here  than  Xiyw  :  MS  only    .     .    .    tw  or  yto. 


Difference  from  the  Evangelists.  357 

Saith  Jesus :  A  prophet  is  not  acceptable  in  his 
native  country,  neither  doth  a  physician  work  cures 
upon  them  that  know  him.1 

Saith  Jesus:  A  city  built  upon  the  top  of  a  high 
hill,  and  stablished,  can  neither  fall  nor  be  hid.2 

Saith  Jesus:  Thou  hearest  [into  the  ear]3.    .    .    ." 

As  far  as  relates  to  the  brief,  didactic  form  of 
these  sayings,  we  may  fairly  regard  them  as  typical 
of  a  good  deal  of  the  eatechesis  or  oral  traditional  in- 
struction in  vogue  among  the  Christians.  But  as 
regards  their  tone  and  tenor,  the  whole  is  less  typ- 
ical of  such  teaching  during  the  first  Christian  gener- 
ation. It  is  possible,  indeed,  that  the  bulk  of  what 
once  preceded  this  leaf  was  more  akin  to  the  first 
of  the  sayings  than  to  the  next  three ;  more  like,  in 
fact,  to  the  sayings  in  our  Gospels.  But  taking  the 
leaf  as  it  stands,  its  theological  reflection,  and  conse- 
quent deviation  from  the  canonical  sayings,  is  con- 
siderable, and  betrays  the  influence  of  a  training 
different  from  that  of  the  first  Apostles  and  evange- 
lists. An  interpretation  of  the  person  of  the  Speaker, 
such  as  we  see  in  the  New  Testament  Epistles  and 
other  first  century  writings,  is  in  fact  reacting  on 
and  obscuring  the  literal  tradition  of  the  words  He 
spoke. 

We  observe,  then,  a  certain  unlikeness  in  these 

1  Here  the  idea  fouud  in  Luke  iv.  23  is  developed  on  the  lines 
of  Jewish  proverbial  thought. 

5  Fusing  the  thoughts  fouud  in  Matt.  v.  14,  vii.  24  f. 

3  So  much  can  be  plausibly  restored  from  MS.  Perhaps  the 
Logion  ran  :  "  Thou  hearest  into  the  ear  (privately),  but  do  thou 
proclaim  openly  "—the  sentiment  of  Matt.  x.  27,  which  supplies 
also  the  nearest  verbal  parallel. 


358  The  Apostolic  Age. 

sayings  to  our  Synoptic  Gospels  and  a  greater  affinity 
to  the  Gospel  of  John.  And  we  are  led  to  seek  the 
theological  standpoint  which  best  accounts  for  say- 
ings like  the  third,  unparalleled  in  the  Synoptics  1 
and  almost  certainly  not  words  of  Jesus.  They  sug- 
gest preoccupation  with  the  ideal  side  of  the  Wisdom- 
literature,  whether  in  its  Palestinian  or  Alexandrine 
form:  for  both  go  back  to  the  same  stimulus,  con- 
tact with  Greek  philosophy.  Thus  when  we  read  in 
Wisdom  (x.  16),  that  "  She  (Wisdom)  entered  into 
the  soul  of  a  servant  of  the  Lord  (Moses),"  we  feel 
that  this  notion  was  sure  ere  long  to  color  the 
thoughts  of  Christians2  touching  their  diviner  Mas- 
ter. So  when  we  find  words  put  into  Jesus'  mouth 
to  the  effect  that  He  had  "  appeared  "  to  the  world, 
offering  men  His  heavenly  fare,3  we  feel  that  like 
causes  have  been  at  work,  and  that  we  have  here  a 
prophetic  "  word  of  knowledge  "  (1  Cor.  xii.  8)  touch- 
ing Jesus  unconsciously  blending  with  Christ's  own 

1  The  nearest  approach  to  a  parallel  is  in  the  attitude  of  the 
Saviour  in  Matt.  xi.  28-30,  which  may  involve  a  half-allusion  to 
the  character  in  which  "Wisdom"  was  commonly  set  forth  in 
Jewish  Wisdom-literature  (e.  g.,  Ecelesiasticus,  vi.  23-28,  xxiv.  19, 
li.  23-27).  For  just  above  we  find  the  proverbial  maxim,  "And 
(yet)  Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  works." 

2  And  in  fact  we  find  additions  made  to  such  "  Wisdom"  writ- 
ings indicative  of  this  tendency.  Such  is  certainly  the  case  in 
Baruch  (iii.  37),  where  to  a  description  of  "Wisdom"  as  God's 
special  treasure  which  He  "  hath  given  to  Jacob  His  servant  and 
to  Israel  that  is  beloved  of  Him,"  is  found  in  our  MSS  the  in- 
congruous tag,  "Afterward  did  she  appear  upon  earth  and  was 
conversant  with  men." 

3  As  Wisdom  does  in  Proverbs  ix.  1-6;  Ecelesiasticus  li.  24, 
"  Say,  wherefore  are  ye  lacking  in  these  things  (instruction),  and 
your  souls  are  very  thirsty  "  :  cf.  Eev.  xxi.  6,  xxii.  17. 


The  Glorified  Christ.  359 

sayings.  Similarly  "  Barnabas  "  puts  into  the  mouth 
of  Jesus  the  moral  contained  in  an  Old  Testament 
type.  "  Thus,"  saith  He,  "  those  that  would  see  Me 
and  attain  My  kingdom,  must  receive  Me  through 
tribulation  and  affliction"  (vii.  11).  These  words 
are  not  meant  to  be  an  actual  quotation  of  any  say- 
ing ever  uttered  by  Jesus,  but  set  forth  ideally  the 
principles  of  His  kingdom.1  So  our  compiler  incor- 
porates words  originally  meant  simply  to  set  forth 
vividly  Jesus'  experience  in  relation  to  men  in  the 
days  of  His  flesh,  viewed  as  still  holding  good  in  His 
heavenly  state. 

In  this  connection  the  best  commentary  on  the 
saying  is  to  be  found  in  Rev.  i.-iii.,  where  the  Spirit's 
messages  to  the  Seven  Churches  are  also  those  of 
Jesus.  It  is  the  Glorified  Jesus  that  here  speaks. 
The  view  of  His  person  there  implied  meets  us  again 
in  1  Tim.  iii.  16,  which  is  not  a  passage  of  St.  Paul's 
own  wording,  but  is  quoted  as  in  Christian  currency, 
probably  as  a  hymn  or  metrical  confession :  "  He 
who  was  manifested  in  the  flesh,  was  justified  in  the 
spirit,  appeared  to  messengers,3  was  heralded  among 
the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up 
in  glory."  Here  we  notice  the  same  ideal  handling 
of  the  Incarnation  that  meets  us  in  our  Logion. 
The  historical  order  is  sacrificed  to  the  ideal;  the 

1  This,  taken  along  with  our  Logion,  suggests  how  many  of  the 
traditional  sayings  attributed  to  Christ  in  ancient  writings  really 
arose:  e.  g.,  "He  that  is  near  Me,  is  near  the  fire.  But  he  that 
is  far  from  Me,  is  far  from  the  Kingdom." 

'Angeloa  is  so  used  in  James  ii.  25:  cf.  Acts  x.  40  f.  for  the 
sense,  "God  gave  Him  to  be  manifest  ...  to  witnesses" 
after  the  Resurrection. 


360  The  Apostolic  Age. 


assumption  "  in  glory,"  as  climax,  balances  the  lowly- 
beginning,  the  manifestation  "in  flesh."  This  is 
how  the  purely  religious  interest  would  work  out- 
side circles  in  which  the  historic  life  alone  moulded 
thought  and  speech.  And  once  the  Gospel  got 
beyond  its  native  Palestine,  or  at  least  Syria,  Hel- 
lenistic idealism  would  tend  to  exercise  a  growing 
influence.  So  in  "Barnabas"  we  find  little  feeling 
for  the  historic  Christ,  but  much  for  the  spiritual 
fact  that  the  Lord  "  was  Himself  to  be  manifested 
in  flesh"  as  Jesus  (vi.  14). 

It  is,  then,  in  such  passages  as  these — to  which  one 
may  add  Heb.  ix.  26,  and  1  Peter  i.  20— that  we  find 
partial  analogies  for  this  Logion.  There  is  less 
affinity  with  Johannine  language,  which  defines 
more  explicitly  the  Person  made  manifest,  the  Son 
of  God  (1  John  iii.  8)  or  the  Word.  Indeed  we  may 
safely  say  that,  had  our  compiler  known  the  Johan- 
nine writings,  he  must  have  adopted  their  more  defi- 
nite conceptions.  But  as  it  is,  his  thought  moved 
more  on  the  lines  of  the  Hellenistic  "  Wisdom  "  liter- 
ature, of  which  the  expression,  "I  took  my  stand" 
among  men,  forcibly  reminds  the  reader.  Read 
Prov.  viii.  1-ix.  6,1  and  one  can  hardly  doubt  that 
it  is  the  circle  of  ideas  there  found  that  colors  this 

'Especially  viii.  2,  "at  the  meeting  of  the  -ways  she  stands"  : 
viii.  4,  she  addresses  "  the  sons  of  men  "  :  ix.  2  ff.,  she  mixes  her 
wine-bowl  of  wisdom  and  invites  the  ignorant  to  taste  thereof. 
Whatever  may  be  the  exact  meaning  of  the  words  in  Luke  xi.  49, 
("  therefore  also  the  wisdom  of  God  said,  I  will  send  "),  as  com- 
pared with  the  parallel  in  Matt,  xxiii.  34  ("therefore,  lo,  I 
send"),  the  expression  shows  that  "  the  Wisdom  of  God"  was 
trembling  on  the  edge  of  personification  in  the  first  century. 


The  Ideal  or  Mystical  Element.  361 

Logion,  blending  as  a  disturbing  factor  with  the 
compiler's  memory  of  Jesus'  own  words.  This  prob- 
ably fixes  the  sort  of  presence  which  the  next  Logion 
promises  in  proverbial  language  (cf.  Eccl.  x.  9)  to 
the  loyal  and  strenuous  soul,  who  in  facing  diffi- 
culties in  the  path  of  daily  duty  shall  find  them  yield 
a  consciousness  of  his  Master's  fellowship.  His  pres- 
ence lurks,  as  it  were,  only  awaiting  discovery  at 
the  hands  of  strenuous,  dutiful  obedience  in  the 
homely  tasks  of  life.  Jesus  is  in  fact  the  personal 
expression  of  that  Wisdom  whose  presence  Solomon1 
is  represented  as  invoking,  when  he  cries :  "  Send 
her  forth  out  of  the  holy  heavens  .  .  .  that  be- 
ing present  with  me  she  may  share  my  toil."  For 
only  as  God  "  sends  His  holy  spirit  from  the  high- 
est," can  man  learn  His  will,  and  "  through  Wisdom 
be  saved."  Truly  our  sayings  are,  as  Dr.  Sanday  says, 
4  in  the  succession  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  with  a 
tinge  from  the  Wisdom  of  Sirach.' 

But  this  ideal  or  mystical  element,  which  occurs 
amid  sayings  echoing  the  genuine  words  of  Christ, 
may  have  been  confined  to  a  small  part,  possibly  to 
only  the  closing  section,  of  this  Logia-manual.  And 
if  we  may  infer  that  the  sayings  had  to  their  com- 
piler's mind  an  order  and  rationale,  it  is  quite  likely 
that  the  high  theological  claims  of  the  Speaker  were 
only  made  explicit  in  the  closing  appeal.  But  can 
we  detect  any  order?  The  following  may  be  sug- 
gested as  a  working  hypothesis.  Assuming  that 
the  ten  earlier  pages  had  set  forth  the  nature  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God  in  representative  Evangelic  pre- 
1  Wisdom,  ix.  4,  10,  17  f.  ;  see  the  fine  passage,  vii.  22-viii.  1. 


362  The  Apostolic  Age. 

cepts,  our  leaf  may  belong  to  the  personal  applica- 
tion with  which  the  manual,  if  meant  for  practical 
use  like  the  Two  Ways,  would  naturally  conclude. 
The  sequence  of  thought  would  then  be :  To  see 
aright,  one  must  cease  from  judging  others  and  purge 
one's  own  inward  eye.  Only  he  who  fosters  the  un- 
worldly and  dutiful  spirit  can  see  the  Father.  In- 
carnate Wisdom  sadly  testifies  to  the  lack  of  the  re- 
ceptive spirit  among  men  at  large ;  but  speaks  cheer 
to  the  two  or  even  one  amid  the  faithless  many,  say- 
ing, "  Though  hidden  from  the  vulgar  eye,  I  am  ever 
near  when  disciples  do  their  daily  duty  strenuously." 
What  though  His  own  in  Judea  have  not  received 
Him?  It  is  but  according  to  rule.  Yet  though  now 
but  a  small  minority,  believers  are  bound  to  hold 
out  and  be  felt  at  last,  because  firm-built  on  the 
mount  of  God.  (Therefore  spread  boldly  the  mes- 
sage heard  in  the  ear.) 

These  sayings  have  a  strong  Jewish  tinge,  not 
only  in  their  phraseology  and  style,  but  also  in  the 
reference  to  the  Sabbath  as  a  sacred  day  and  to  the 
rejection  of  Jesus  in  Judaea.  But  all  this  is  subor- 
dinated to  the  spiritualizing  idealism  of  an  Alexan- 
drine order,  which  assures  us  that  they  have  been 
fashioned  in  the  Hellenistic  Diaspora,  possibly  in 
Alexandria  itself.  The  thought  that  has  been  play- 
ing on  the  Evangelic  tradition  is  that  amid  which 
Apollos  had  been  nurtured.  As  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  in  our  Matthew  shows  us  Logia  of  Jesus  ar- 
ranged for  Syrian  Hellenists,  so  these  perhaps  show 
much  the  same  original  material  unconsciously  modi- 
fied by  oral  tradition  to  suit  the  mind  of  Alexandrine 


Oral  Tradition.  363 


Hellenists,  and  at  last  taking  on  their  final  impress 
from  a  single  vigorous  mind.  The  longer  such  a 
mind  had  brooded  over  the  sayings  that  had  quick- 
ened it,  the  less  able  it  would  be  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  original  data  of  tradition  and  reflections 
started  thereby.  We  see  something  of  the  same 
process  in  the  Johannine  Gospel,  in  which  report- 
ing often  shades  off  insensibly  into  meditations 
started  by  what  is  reported  {e.  g.,  iii.  16-21). 
Only,  the  mind  whose  stamp  is  on  our  sayings 
had  no  strong  historic  basis  of  eyewitness  to  con- 
trol the  process. 

Thus  far  our  attention  has  been  confined  to  the 
words  of  Christ  and  their  earliest  written  forms. 
From  the  first,  however,  oral  tradition  must  have 
dealt  also  with  the  deeds  of  Jesus  as  bearing  on  His 
character  as  Messiah.  Apart  from  these,  Apostles 
must  have  felt,  no  living  impression  of  their  Master, 
so  unlike  the  conventional  Messiah  of  men's  ideas, 
could  be  enjoyed  even  by  receptive  souls.  Thus  the 
broad  outlines  of  the  career  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is 
implied  as  part  of  Peter's  address  in  the  house  of 
Cornelius.  It  is  involved  too  in  Paul's  appeals  to 
his  converts'  knowledge  of  the  "meekness  and  sweet 
reasonableness  of  the  Christ,"  to  His  mind  or  spirit 
(2  Cor.  x.  1 ;  Phil.  ii.  5  ff.),  as  well  as  to  certain 
facts  of  His  life  as  primary  parts  of  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage summarized  in  1  Cor.  xv.  1  ff.  And  the  like 
may  be  said  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  witli  its 
allusion  to  "  the  days  of  His  flesh,"  with  their 
"strong  cryings  and  tears"  (v.  7  f.). 


364  The  Apostolic  Age. 

In  the  formation  of  this  type  of  tradition  we  can 
hardly  doubt  that  Peter,  both  by  temper  and  by  his 
position  as  spokesman  in  the  earliest  days,  was  sure 
to  be  the  prime  factor.  To  this  result  all  known 
facts  point  converge ntly.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  such  historical 
details  were  taken  for  granted  rather  than  con- 
sciously emphasized :  and  anything  like  a  uniform, 
official  narrative  would  have  been  far  from  the 
thoughts  of  Peter,  as  of  the  other  Apostles.  Least 
of  all  would  it  occur  to  him  or  to  them  to  write  it 
down.  Here  it  is  that  room  was  left  for  their  dis- 
ciples, acting  according  to  personal  habit  and  more 
or  less  fortuitous  circumstances.  And  this  is  just 
what  the  preface  to  Luke's  Gospel,  in  a  notice  of 
immense  historical  value,  gives  us  to  understand. 
Luke  there  refers  to  the  fact  that  "  many  have  taken 
in  hand  to  draw  up  a  narrative  (diegesis)  touching 
the  matters  held  with  full  conviction  among  us,  even 
as  they  were  handed  on  to  us  by  those  who  were 
from  the  beginning  eyewitnesses  and  ministers  of 
the  word."  This  implies  (1)  that,  when  Luke  began 
to  think  of  writing,  there  was  already  current  a  con- 
siderable body  of  written  narratives  touching  the 
Christ's  ministry,  based  on  the  testimony  of  the  eye- 
witnesses. (2)  That  he  knew  of  no  such  narrative 
by  any  of  the  eyawitnesses  themselves.  Now 
Luke's  Gospel  may  reasonably  be  assigned  to  75-80 
A.  D.  Accordingly  the  beginnings  of  narrative- 
gospels  must  be  carried  back  at  least  to  about  60-70 
A.  D. 

But  can  we  picture  the  sort  of  narrative  here  in 


Lack  of  Historical  Coherence.  365 

view?  We  have  already  dealt  with  the  Logia  ele- 
ment. And  now,  by  the  aid  of  Peter's  preaching  in 
Acts  x.  36  ff.,  at  the  one  end,  and  the  Gospel  by 
Mark  at  the  other,  we  may  say  something  of  nar- 
ratives proper.  Such  would  recount  in  represent- 
ative episodes  (with  incidental  dialogue)  the  great 
Ministry,  "  beginning  from  Galilee,  after  the  baptism 
which  John  preached :  "  how  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
anointed  of  God  with  Holy  Spirit  power,  so  that 
"  he  went  about  doing  good  and  healing,"  "  both  in 
the  country  of  the  Jews  (Palestine*)  and  in  Jerusa- 
lem," until  his  enemies  "  slew  him,  hanging  him  on 
a  tree":  and  how  that  "God  raised  him  up  the 
third  day  and  gave  him  to  be  made  manifest "  unto 
chosen  witnesses.  If  we  imagine  these  salient  points 
expanded  in  vivid  detail,  now  by  one  set  of  inci- 
dents, now  by  another— according  to  the  writer's  in- 
formation— we  shall  form  a  fair  idea  of  such  primi- 
tive gospels.  That  they  were,  in  general,  rather 
scrappy  and  lacking  in  coherence,  we  also  gather 
from  Luke's  emphasis  on  the  relative  completeness 
and  historic  order  which  he  claims  for  the  result  of 
his  own  sustained  inquiry.  And  yet  he  does  not  im- 
ply that  he  made  no  sort  of  use  of  such  unstudied 
productions;  still  less  that  there  were  no  narratives 
in  existence  far  above  the  average  in  the  qualities  he 
desiderated.  He  simply  considers  that  all  existing 
narratives  can  be  improved  on  in  historical  quality, 
such  as  would  commend  the  Gospel  itself  to  persons 
of  Greek  culture,  like  '  Theophilus,'  to  whom  his  own 
work  is  dedicated.  Indeed  when  we  compare  Luke's 
Gospel  with  the  other  two  which  cover  much  the 


366  The  Apostolic  Age. 

same  ground  (our  Synoptic  Gospels),  we  find  traces 
of  his  having  drawn  largely  upon  two  earlier  narra- 
tives, one  of  which  appears  most  clearly  in  the  large 
section  peculiar  to  Luke  (ix.  51-xviii.  14),  while 
the  other  is  our  second  gospel,  that  by  Mark.  To 
this,  then,  we  turn. 

Here  we  are  fortunate  in  possessing  a  definite  tra- 
dition going  back  to  the  latter  part  of  the  Apostolic 
Age  itself,  that  of  "  the  Presbyter  John,"  as  quoted 
by  Papias  (Euseb.  iii.  39),  who  writes: 

"  This  too  the  Presbyter  said :  '  Mark  having  been  interpreter  to 
Peter  wrote  down  accurately,  though  not  in  order,  all  he  remem- 
bered in  the  way  of  things  said  or  done  by  the  Christ.'  For  neither 
had  he  heard  the  Lord  nor  been  a  companion  of  His,  but  at  a  later 
date,  as  I  said,  of  Peter,  who  framed  his  instructions  to  meet  each  oc- 
casion, and  not  as  though  he  were  making  a  compilation  of  the  Say- 
ings of  the  Lord.  So  that  Mark  did  no  wrong  in  writing  down  certain 
things  as  he  recollected  them  :  for  of  one  thing  he  took  due  heed, 
namely,  not  to  omit  aught  of  what  he  had  heard  or  therein  to 
falsify  any  point." 

With  these  hints  to  guide  us,  we  can  trace  the 
genesis  of  Mark's  Gospel  somewhat  as  follows: 

Mark  was  he  to  whom  Peter  alludes  in  his  Epistle 
of  c.  63  A.  D.,  as  "  my  son,"  an  affectionate  designa- 
tion pointing  back  to  the  old  days  when  the  Apostle 
was  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  mother's  house  (a  centre 
of  church-life  in  Jerusalem  in  44  A.  D.)  and  prob- 
ably the  spiritual  father  of  the  son,  John  Mark.  It 
is  suggestive  to  think  of  this  young  man  as  an  early 
recipient  of  the  Petrine  tradition  of  Christ's  deeds 
and  words,  which  was  carried  also  by  his  cousin 
Barnabas  first  to  Antioch  and  then  on  the  first  great 
mission  journey  with  Paul. 


Mark,  and  His   Gospel.  367 

Mark  probably  renewed  his  connection  with  Peter 
in  between  his  return  from  Perga  and  his  starting 
on  a  second  mission  with  Barnabas  alone  in  Cyprus. 
There  we  lose  him,  until  he  emerges  again  in  Paul's 
company  at  Rome.  Yet  the  very  passage  which  re- 
veals this  stage  in  his  history  (Col.  iv.  10),  suggests 
a  previous  one,  when  a  message  was  sent  to  Colossae 
to  welcome  him  should  he  come  their  way.  This 
message  was  perhaps  sent  from  Paul's  confinement 
in  Ceesarea;  and  we  may  imagine  that  Mark  had 
been  drawn  to  his  old  leader,  now  in  adversity,  and 
had  been  restored  to  his  full  confidence.  Did  he 
come  from  Cyprus,  or  from  Alexandria,  to  which 
tradition  carries  Barnabas,1  and  where  the  church  is 
said  by  Eusebius,  on  older  authority,  to  have  owed 
its  origin  to  Mark  ?  We  cannot  be  sure.2  Certain 
it  is,  however,  that  after  Paul's  death  he  gravitated 
again  to  Peter's  side,  being  with  him  in  Rome  about 
63.  There  he  would  refresh  and  enlarge  his  knowl- 
edge of  that  Petrine  series  of  deeds  and  words  of  Jesus 
the  Christ  which  must  now  have  attained  a  definite 
coherence,  although  originally  evoked  from  the 
Apostle  piecemeal  to  meet  the  needs  of  converts. 
Day   by   day   he    would,    as    Peter's   dragoman   in 

'The  Clementine  romance  (Clem.  Horn.  1,  9  ff.)  makes  Clem- 
ent find  him  settled  as  a  teacher  there ;  and  this  as  a  broad  fact  is 
supported  by  the  Alexandrine  ascription  to  him  of  the  "  Epistle 
of  Barnabas." 

2  The  fact  that  Eusebius  places  in  61-G2  the  succession  to  Mark 
of  Annianus,  the  first  head  of  the  local  church  there,  rather  sup- 
ports the  idea  of  his  having  been  there  before  the  deaths  of  Paul 
and  Peter.  And  Nicephorus  (H.  E.  ii.  43),  in  relating  the  doubt- 
ful story  of  his  martyrdom  in  Alexandria,  assumes  that  he  had 
rrt tn-ned  thither  (xaktv  indvectrtv). 


368  The  Apostolic  Age. 


preaching  and  assistant  in  more  systematic  in- 
struction, be  called  on  to  repeat  the  cycle  in 
whole  or  in  part.  So  that  when  Peter,  the  eye- 
witness, passed  from  among  men,  the  main  body  of 
his  memories  still  lived  in  the  mind  of  his  "  son " 
Mark.  Hence,  as  Roman  Christians  began  to  real- 
ize the  full  loss  of  that  great  "living  voice,"  no 
longer  at  hand  to  be  cross-questioned  as  to  Christ, 
they  would  naturally  turn  to  its  most  faithful  echo 
in  Mark  and  cling  ever  closer  to  the  treasure  they 
had  in  him. 

At  what  moment  would  Mark  be  most  likely  to 
go  beyond  the  older  usage  of  oral  tradition  from 
master  to  disciple  (as  in  the  schools  of  the  Rabbis), 
and  think  of  committing  the  prized  deposit  to  writ- 
ing? Probability  points  to  the  time  when  he  began 
to  talk  of  departure  for  his  native  East,  perhaps  to 
Cyprus  and  ultimately  to  Alexandria.  In  some 
such  way,  then,  this  pricelessly  fresh  and  lifelike 
narrative,  the  Memoirs  of  Peter  (as  they  were  to 
Justin  Martyr),  came  to  attain  the  fixity  of  written 
words,  with  all  their  individual  stamp  still  unim- 
paired, and  their  homely  realism  still  unembarrassed, 
as  has  been  well  said,  by  an  artificial  reverence. 

We  have  seen  that  this  was  after  Peter's  decease 
in  64  A.  D.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  probably 
prior  to  the  full  development  of  the  Revolt  in  Judsea. 
Only  so  can  we  explain  Mark's  tone  in  relation  to 
the  calamities  foretold  in  it  (chap,  xiii.)  as  impend- 
ing over  Judrea  and  Jerusalem.  If  we  compare  his 
language  with  the  parallel  passages  in  Luke  we  feel 
a  marked  difference.     The  one  seems  to  write  with- 


Genesis  of  Matthew's   Gospel.  369 

out,  the  other  with,  the  actual  events  of  70  A.  D. 
before  him. 

The  case  is  more  ambiguous  as  regards  our  Mat- 
thew, the  origin  of  which  now  invites  attention. 
We  have  already  hinted  that  Luke  could  not  have 
written  his  Preface  as  he  did,  had  he  known  of  a  full 
Gospel  composed  by  the  Apostle  Matthew.  But 
Papias  and  others  after  him  believed  that  this  Apostle 
did  write  some  Gospel-book  in  Hebrew  or  rather 
Aramaic.  A  reconciliation  of  these  and  other  fea- 
tures of  the  case  (e.  g.,  that  our  Matthew  shows  no 
sign  of  having  been  written  in  anything  but  Greek) 
is  found  in  the  view  that  at  a  date  unknown  to  us, 
but  not  long  after  it  passed  (orally  or  in  writing) 
into  general  currency  in  Palestine,  Matthew's  col- 
lection of  Christ's  Sayings  was  incorporated  with  a 
narrative,  which  internal  evidence  proves  to  be  our 
Mark,  so  as  to  form  a  comprehensive  presentation 
of  the  ministry  of  Jesus  for  a  special  class  of  read- 
ers. 

The  felt  need  of  the  time  and  place  of  our  Greek 
Matthew,  was  for  a  convincing  exhibition  to  the  Jew- 
ish mind  of  the  Messianic  features  of  Jesus,  His 
person  and  His  ministry  both  in  word  and  deed,  and 
of  the  divine  authentication  of  His  mission.  This 
for-  Jews  could  consist,  in  the  main,  in  nothing  else 
than  the  concord  between  the  facts  of  Jesus'  history 
and  the  Messianic  foreshadowing  in  their  Sacred 
Scriptures,  in  the  light  of  which  even  alleged  his- 
tory would  gain  enhanced  persuasiveness  and  cogency. 
Thus  the  existing  Evangelic  material  is  cast  into  a 
fresh  mould,  that  of  observed  "  fulfilment."  The 
X 


370  The  Apostolic  Age. 

chief  traces  of  the  interest  the  unknown  writer  had  in 
undertaking  his  task  and  making  certain  additions 
from  his  own  store  of  oral  tradition  (e.  g.>  the  stories 
connected  with  the  Nativity) — which  appear  as  pe- 
culiarities of  his  among  the  Synoptic  Gospels — are 
writ  large  on  those  passages  where  he  calls  attention 
to  prophecy  in  the  phrase,  "  That  it  might  be  ful- 
filled which  was  spoken  through  the  prophet." 

Thus  each  of  our  Gospels  answers  to  a  need  in 
some  circle  between  65  and  80  A.  D.,  and  so  throws 
back  light  upon  conditions  of  Christian  life  which 
otherwise  might  escape  us.  Mark's  simple  realism 
satisfies  the  spontaneous  wants  of  devout  religious 
contemplation  even  among  Gentiles,  perpetuating  the 
image  of  Jesus  as  He  lived  in  the  faithful  mirror  of 
Peter's  vivid  memory.  Matthew,  as  we  have  it, 
presents  the  picture  of  the  same  Jesus  in  another 
perspective,  that  in  which  the  lineaments  of  the 
Meek  yet  Regal  Messiah  strike  the  beholder,  the 
perspective  adapted  to  the  needs  of  Jewish  readers. 
With  Luke's  picture  we  have  yet  to  deal  in  its  own 
place.  But  we  may  so  far  anticipate  as  to  say  that 
it  is  dominated  by  the  interest  and  instinct  of  the 
historian — the  religious  historian  indeed,  yet  the  man 
to  whom  loved  facts  are  the  more  significant  and  as- 
sured that  the  organic  sequence  between  them  can 
be  set  in  due  relief,  so  as  naturally  to  suggest  their 
own  inmost  meaning  and  moral. 

As  regards  the  probable  date  of  our  Matthew,  the 
warning  note  that  the  crisis  in  Jewish  national  des- 
tiny is  drawing  on,  already  struck  in  the  parenthetic 
comment  introduced  in  Mark  xiii.  14,  "  Let  him  that 


New  Color  Given  to  the  Tradition.  371 

readeth  (probably,  in  public  service)  understand,"  is 
not  only  repeated  by  its  author  but  is  made  yet 
more  urgent  in  the  phrasing  of  the  Apocalyptic  Dis- 
course to  which  it  refers.  At  an  earlier  stage,  when 
dealing  with  the  feelings  of  the  Palestinian  Chris- 
tians as  the  signs  of  coming  trouble  and  war  began 
to  thicken',  we  hinted  that  the  development  of  events 
felt  to  be  fulfilling  the  tenor  of  Christ's  warning  as 
to  disasters  coming  upon  Judaea  and  Jerusalem, 
would  naturally  color  the  tradition  of  the  Master's 
words  upon  this  absorbing  topic.  Of  this  tendency 
Matthew  shows  more  sign  than  Mark.  And  yet  its 
language  in  general,  when  compared  with  that  of 
Luke  writing  after  70  A.  D.,  would  be  natural  to 
one  writing  before  rather  than  after  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem.  Accordingly  this  Gospel,  using  our 
Mark — written  not  earlier  than  65  and  perhaps  a 
year  or  two  later — but  betraying  no  consciousness  of 
the  actual  issues  of  70  A.  D.,  may  provisionally 
and  as  a  whole  be  assigned  to  68-69  A.  D. 


BOOK  III. 

The  Second  Generation:   Trials  and  Consolida- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  I. 

AFTER    THE    STORM :     THE    EPISTLE    OF   BARNABAS. 

|FTER  the  end  of  the  Apostolic  Age  in  its 
narrower  sense,  the  age  during  which  the 
original  Apostles  were  for  the  most  part 
still  alive,  our  materials  for  history  be- 
come rather  scanty  and  of  more  un- 
certain date.  Indeed  within  the  New  Testament 
itself  the  Johannine  writings  are  at  first  sight  our 
sole  authorities.  It  is  true  that  first  appearances  are 
here  deceptive,  since  Acts,  as  well  as  Luke  at 
least  among  our  Synoptic  Gospels,  probably  belong  to 
the  ten  years  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  ;  and  infer - 
entially  they  cast  some  light  on  the  fortunes  of  the 
Church  in  those  days.  But  after  all  is  said,  and  as- 
suming that  the  Revelation  of  John  is  prior  to  85, 
we  are  still  sadly  in  need  of  chronological  land- 
marks even  for  the  first  half  of  the  era  70-100.  In 
these  circumstances  it  is  well  to  bring  prominently 
on  the  scene  the  one  other  complete  Christian  writ- 

372 


The  Epistle  of  Barnabas.  373 

ing  l  of  this  earlier  period  to  which  a  date  can  be  as- 
signed within  narrow  limits.  We  refer  to  the  so- 
called  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  which  has  the  merit  of 
introducing  several  of  the  features  that  mark  the 
later  Apostolic  Age  as  a  whole. 

It  dates  itself  in  the  following  fashion.  In  chap- 
ter iv.  there  occurs  an  apocalyptic  passage,  declar- 
ing that  "  the  final  offence  is  at  hand,"  that  which 
Enoch2  had  in  view  when  he  said ;  "For  to  this  end 
the  Master  hath  cut  short  the  seasons  and  the  days, 
that  His  Beloved  may  hasten  and  come  to  His  in- 
heritance." The  author  then  quotes  "  the  prophet " 
(Daniel  vii.  24)  as  follows:  "Ten  reigns  shall  reign 
upon  the  earth;  and  after  them  shall  arise  a  little 
king,  who  shall  bring  low  three  of  the  kings  at  one 
blow."  "  And  I  saw  the  fourth  beast  to  be  wicked 
and  strong  and  more  intractable  than  all  the  beasts 
of  the  earth,  and  how  there  arose  from  him  ten 
horns,  and  from  these  a  little  horn,  an  offshoot,  and 
how  that  it  brought  low  at  a  stroke  three  of  the 
great  horns."     He  then  adds,  "  Ye  ought,  therefore, 

:  In  contrast  to  the  Christian  additions  to  Jewish  writings 
(both  morally  didactic  and  apocalyptic)  such  as  the  present 
writer  believes  to  exist  in  far  larger  quantity  than  is  as  yet  gen- 
erally realized.  The  fall  of  Jerusalem  was  a  wonderfully  stimu- 
lating theme,  and  called  for  a  readjustment  of  attitude  in  many 
quarters.  Many  books  were  felt  to  need  bringing  up  to  date  in 
its  light,  if  they  were  to  remain  fit  expositions  of  "  the  whole 
duty  of  man  "  in  different  circles  of  piety. 

2  In  a  recension  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  in  part  peculiar  to  the  re- 
gion and  time,  for  it  does  not  survive  in  the  book  as  known  to  us. 
To  judge  from  the  title  given  to  Messiah,  "  His  beloved,"  it  was 
the  form  current  in  the  region  and  time  reflected  in  the  Ascension 
of  Isaiah  (iii.  iv.),  *.  e.,  North-Syria  about  65-66  A.  D. 


374  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

to  comprehend."  This  nota  bene  recalls  the  one  in- 
serted in  Mark  xiii.  14,  "  Let  the  reader  under- 
stand," and  warns  us  that  a  glance  at  the  horizon 
of  current  events  is  intended.  And  when  we  ob- 
serve the  way  in  which  the  writer  has  twisted  the 
language  of  Daniel,  we  see  what  he  is  hinting  as 
broadly  as  he  dared.  We  learn,  in  fact,  that  he  is 
living  in  the  era  when  three  kings,  in  a  sense,  were 
together  ruling  the  world,1  viz,  Vespasian  and  his 
two  sons,  Titus  and  Domitian.  For  though  Domit- 
ian  was  never,  technically,  colleague  with  the  other 
two  as  Imperator,  yet  his  honorary  status  was  near 
enough  equality  to  satisfy  an  apocalyptist  writing 
in  the  East  and  for  Easterns.  The  "  offshoot," 
then,  is  Nero  redivivus,  according  to  the  idea  already 
referred  to  as  current  for  some  time  after  his  death, 
namely  that  he  would  reappear  and  overwhelm  his 
foes.  All  this  points  to  a  period  early  in  Vespa- 
sian's reign.  It  was  then  that  the  new  dynasty,  the 
Flavians  who  had  replaced  the  Julian  line,  would 
most  look  like  sharing  the  fate  of  Galba  and  his 
equally  shortlived  successors.  It  was  then,  too,  that 
a  novel  phenomenon,  like  the  association  of  three 
heads  of  the  Empire,  would  most  impress  the  imagi- 
nation and  stir  it  to  note  any  affinity  with  past  proph- 
ecy. Hence  we  may  safely  treat  the  Epistle  of  Bar- 
nabas as  a  voice  out  of  the  years  70-75. 

But  whose  voice  ?     And  whence  ?     And  whither 

directed?     But  few  scholars  to-day  believe  that  its 

author    was     Paul's    early    companion,    Barnabas. 

The   traditional  title  cannot  prove  his  authorship: 

1  See  further  the  Literary  Appendix. 


Contents  of  the  Epistle.  375 

it  simply  shows  that  the  Alexandrine  Church,  with 
which  our  knowledge  of  it  begins,  was  glad  to  be- 
lieve it  by  Barnabas — a  fact  which  may  be  cited  as 
part  of  the  evidence  connecting  the  latter  days  of 
that  apostolic  man  with  Alexandria.1  But  while 
we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  author's  name,  much  less 
of  his  personality,  we  can  gather  something  of  his 
standing  in  the  Church  from  the  epistle  itself. 

He  addresses  his  readers  as  his  "  sons  and  daugh- 
ters," and  refers  to  the  gratification  which  "the 
much-desired  sight "  of  them  had  caused  him  on  his 
recent  visit.  He  also  alludes  to  the  way  in  which 
the  Lord  had  prospered  his  temporary  ministry 
among  them.  As  he  looks  back  on  all  this,  he  feels 
constrained  not  only  to  love  such  "  blessed  and  glo- 
rious spirits,"  but  also  to  share  with  them  some  fresh 
light  since  received;  in  the  confidence  that  one  who 
ministers  to  such  spirits  cannot  miss  his  reward. 
His  special  aim  in  writing  is  to  supplement  their 
faith  by  a  completer  insight  (p<5<n?) :  and  by  this 
he  means,  particularly,  insight  into  the  signs  of  the 
times— the  sovereign  Lord  having  "  given  us  fore- 
tastes of  things  to  come."  As,  then,  they  see  each 
detail  of  God's  declarations  through  the  prophets 
coming  to  pass,  they  ought  to  "render  a  richer  and 
higher  offering  to  the  fear  of  Him."  "  Yet  not  as  a 
Teacher  "  (like  the  inspired  men  so  styled  in  the 

1  The  value  of  this  evidence  is  hard  to  appraise.  The  Clemen- 
tine Homilies  (i.  8  ff.)  assume  that  he  preached  there  ;  and  this 
witness  seems  stronger,  hecause  less  easy  to  explain  away,  than 
that  of  the  Acts  of  Barnabas.  It  is  against  Barnabas'  presence  at 
Alexandria  for  any  length  of  time,  that  no  tradition  of  the  sort 
seems  known  to  Eusebius. 


376  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

Didache,  for  instance),  adds  he,  "  but  as  one  of  you, 
shall  I  indicate  a  few  points,  whereby  ye  may  re- 
joice in  the  present  season." 

From  which  exordium  two  things  may  be  inferred 
as  to  the  author.  First,  that  he  did  not  (as  is  often 
assumed)  belong  to  the  church  or  churches  addressed : 
he  speaks  as  a  stranger  who  had  been  charmed  by 
a  recent  visit  to  them  and  had  learned  to  love 
them  personally.  Hence  he  feels  as  if  he  wrote  as 
one  of  themselves,  rather  than  as  an  authoritative 
Teacher.  But,  secondly,  he  is  in  fact  such  a  Teacher, 
though  he  does  not  wish  to  appear  in  that  capacity. 
This  is  not  negatived  by  what  he  says  touching  love 
as  prompting  his  letter  (iv.  6,  9):  while  it  is  sug- 
gested by  his  complacent  reflection  on  what  he  feels 
to  be  his  masterpiece  of  inspired  exegesis  (really  a 
piece  of  extravagant  allegorism,  using  the  Rabbinic 
device  of  Grematria  based  on  the  numerical  values  of 
letters)  :  "  He  who  placed  in  us  the  innate  gift  of  His 
4  teaching  '  knoweth — no  man  ever  learned  from  me 
a  more  genuine  word.  But  I  know  that  ye  are 
worthy  "  (ix.  9). 

The  destination  of  the  epistle  was  doubtless  Alex- 
andria. Its  subsequent  literary  history  is  decisive 
on  the  point,  though  its  style  and  tone  do  not  by 
themselves  prove  it.  For  "  Alexandrianism  "  was  a 
manner  more  or  less  common  to  cultured  circles  in 
the  Eastern  Mediterranean ;  and  as  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  so  here,  the  standpoint  belongs  primar- 
ily to  the  writer  rather  than  the  readers.  We  con- 
clude, then,  that  our  author  was  a  Gentile  who  had 
been  influenced  by  Hellenistic  culture.     Having  em- 


Two  Kinds  of  Ideas.  377 

braced  Christianity  as  understood  in  Alexandrine 
circles — say  at  Ephesus1 — he  had  recently  fulfilled  a 
cherished  wish  to  visit  the  church  of  Alexandria, 
where  lie  had  found  his  gifts  as  a  teacher  in  the 
deeper  aspects  of  things  divine  (jvm<n<s)  welcomed 
and  appreciated.  He  now  writes  from  quite  a  dif- 
ferent environment,  where  he  has  come  upon  a  stock 
of  new  ideas  which  he  is  anxious  to  share  with  his 
recent  hosts.  Those  ideas  are  of  two  kinds:  (1) 
those  of  an  Apocalyptic  order,  such  as  meet  us  in  the 
Ascension  of  Isaiah,  ideas  which  seem  to  have  been 
fresh  light  to  him — otherwise  he  would  have  already 
given  them  orally  to  his  new  friends:  (2)  certain  prac- 
tical precepts  for  life,  "  the  precepts  of  the  teaching," 
as  he  styles  them.  The  latter  he  introduces  with 
the  significant  words,  "But  let  us  pass  also  to  an- 
other kind  of  knowledge  and  teaching"  (kripav  yvmaiv 
kal  diBaxTJv).  And  then  he  quotes  the  bulk  of  the 
"Two  Ways"  found  in  our  Didache.  How  natural 
that  he  should  hasten  to  spread  a  knowledge  of  this 
treasure  of  "Apostolic  teaching,"  if  it  had  just  come 
into  his  hands. 

But  whence  is  he  writing?  Nowhere  so  likely  as 
in  Syria,  its  original  home,  say  in  Caesarea  or  Anti- 
och.     For  the  former  place  we  may  allege  its  seem- 

1  It  is  more  than  mere  fancy  to  imagine  that  our  author  may 
have  felt  something  Gf  John's  influence  at  Ephesus.  There  are 
distinct  affinities  underlying  this  Epistle  and  the  Apocalypse, 
though  the  latter  may  not  yet  have  heen  written.  The  chief  co- 
incidence is  in  the  idea  that  the  week  of  the  world's  history  is  to 
close  with  a  Sahbath  of  1,000  years,  a  millennial  application  of 
Ps.  xc.  4  (cf.  2  Pet.  iii.  8)  confined  to  these  two  among  known 
first-century  writings. 


3Y8  The  Apostolic  Age. 


ing  echoes  of  Hebreivs.1  On  the  other  hand,  the 
document2  used  by  our  author  included  Did.  xvi. 
at  any  rate ;  and  the  latter  part  of  the  Didache  we 
have  seen  reason  to  assign  to  North  Syria.  In  these 
regions  then  he  had  met  with  both  the  Didache  and 
a  Christianized  recension  of  the  Book  of  Enoch,  which 
he  cites  by  name ;  and  in  both  he  saw  books  for  the 
times,  their  special  dangers  and  grounds  for  watch- 
fulness. He  seems  at  special  pains  to  emphasize  the 
ethical  side  of  the  Christian  life  (as  well  as  that  of  in- 
sight) ;  as  if  he  had  recently  had  his  own  attention 
directed  to  it  more  strongly  than  before,  through 
coming  into  a  new  religious  atmosphere,  as  an  itin- 
erant Teacher  well  might.  Similarly  his  final  insist- 
ence on  the  duty  of  almsgiving  looks  as  if  he  had 
come  to  realize  it  himself  more  forcibly  since  seeing 
them.  "  I  entreat  those  of  higher  station  .  .  . 
keep  by  you  those  on  whom  ye  may  work  the  fair 
deed.  Fail  not."  On  the  whole,  then,  we  seem  to 
hear  the  consciousness  of  Syrian  Christianity  speak- 
ing in  what  Barnabas  emphasizes  as  the  messages  of 
the  hour,  even  more  than  anything  characteristically 
Alexandrine.  The  latter  element  comes  out  in  the 
style  and  undertone  of  the  entire  composition. 

A  prime  motive  for  the  epistle  is  its  anti-Judaism, 
a  feeling  likely  to  be  strong  in  Gentile  minds  just 
after  the  terrible  rebuke  which  Judaism  seemed  to 

1  Compare  Heb.  ii.  6-iii.  6,  with  Barn.  vi.  19,  xiv.  5.;  Heb.  ii. 
14  ff.  with  v.  6,  xiv.  5,  xvi.  9;  ix.  13  ff.  with  viii.  1  if.  jxii.  24 
with  v.  1.  (viii.  1-3). 

2 He  alludes  to  such  "precepts  of  the  Lord"  as  "written" 
(xxi.  1). 


Judaism  and  the   Gospel.  379 

have  received  from  the  hand  of  God  in  70  A.  D. 
Thus  the  writer  entreats  his  readers  (iv.  6)  "not  to 
become  like  to  certain  persons,  adding  afresh  to  your 
(past)  sins  by  saying  that  the  Covenant  belongs  to 
them  and  to  us.  Ours,  indeed,  it  is ;  but  they  (i.  e.y 
the  Jews)  lost  it  forever  in  this  fashion,  after  Moses 
had  already  received  it,"  i.  e.,  by  the  disobedience 
that  led  to  the  breaking  of  the  tables  of  the  Law. 
Here  "  Barnabas "  has  in  view  a  type  of  Jewish 
Christians  who  would  be  very  numerous  in  Alexan- 
dria, where  a  special  quarter  of  the  city  was  given 
up  to  Jews.  These  men  were  ready  to  acknowledge 
the  standing  of  Gentile  Christians  within  the  Cov- 
enant, as  part  of  the  renovated  Israel  called  out  by 
Messiah.  But  they  would  have  it  that  Messiah  had 
simply  brought  the  Covenant  with  Israel  to  fulfil- 
ment; that  the  ceremonial  usages  of  the  Law  were 
still  binding  on  Christians.  Against  this  mingling 
of  Judaism  and  the  Gospel  "  Barnabas "  solemnly 
warns  and  protests  ;  going  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
ceremonial  side  of  the  old  Law  had  never  been  or- 
dained of  God,  but  had  arisen  through  the  counsel 
of  an  evil  angel  deceiving  an  apostate  people.1  The 
true  voice  of  God  in  these  matters  had  been  heard  in 
the  prophets,  representing  a  faithful  few  within  the 
carnal  Israel  all  along :  namely  that  "  He  wanteth 
neither  sacrifices,  nor  whole  burnt-offerings,  nor  ob- 
lations. .  .  .  Such  things  therefore  He  annulled, 
that  the  New  Law  ('  Covenant '  in  xiv.  5)  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  a  law  without  yoke  of  constraint,  might 

1  This  estimate  of  pre-Curistiao.  Judaism  could  riot  come  from 
the  Barnabas  of  Acts. 


380  The  Apostolic  Age. 

have  its  oblation  offered  by  no  human  hands."  He 
then  quotes  Jer.  vii.  22  f.  and  Zech.  viii.  17,  to  show 
that  abstinence  from  ill-will  against  one's  fellow  and 
from  a  false  oath  was  the  sort  of  oblation  required 
of  the  Lord.  For  "  sacrifice  unto  God  is  a  broken 
heart ;  the  smell  of  a  sweet  savor  unto  the  Lord  is  a 
heart  that  glorifies  its  Maker  (Ps.  li.  19).  We 
ought,  therefore,  brethren,  to  search  accurately  con- 
cerning our  salvation,  lest  the  Malicious  One,  effect- 
ing a  covert  entrance  among  us,  by  way  of  error, 
should  fling  us  forth  from  our  life  "  (ii.  4-10). 

Here  we  see  Gentile  Christianity  as  such  taking 
the  aggressive  in  relation  to  Judaism,  now  finally 
discredited  in  its  eyes  by  the  ruin  of  the  home  and 
sanctuary  of  Jewish  religion.  Very  significant  is  the 
way  in  which  it  strives  to  justify  theoretically  its 
growing  feeling  of  distinctness  from  actual  Judaism. 
This  it  does,  not  in  despite  of,  but  precisely  on  the 
basis  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  in  which  the 
Jews  felt  themselves  inipregnably  entrenched.  The 
problem  was  indeed  a  grave  one,  going  to  the  very 
heart  of  the  theory  of  divine  revelation  to  mankind. 
Was  the  Jewish  Law  still  binding?  If  not,  how 
could  that  which  God  had  once  revealed  as  His  will 
become  obsolete  ?  To  us,  with  our  idea  of  a  gradual 
and  progressive  revelation,  given  through  the  educa- 
tion of  a  nation's  spiritual  capacity,  and  therefore  so 
far  conditioned  by  its  receptivity,  by  "  the  hardness 
of  men's  hearts" — the  problem  admits  of  a  straight- 
forward solution,  even  though  it  leaves  its  own  minor 
problems  behind.  But  such  an  historical  attitude  is 
largely  an  acquisition  of  the  wide  "  comparative  "  ex- 


Views  of  the  Jewish  Bible.  381 

perience  of  modern  times.  For  though  it  is  implicit 
in  the  Master's  word  just  quoted,  and  is  made  ex- 
plicit in  St.  Paul's  philosophy  of  the  "dispensations," 
as  well  as  in  Hebrews  (with  its  stages  of  "  shadow  " 
and  "reality,"  in  the  manifestation  of  things  heavenly), 
these  hints  were  not  grasped  by  Gentile  Christianity 
at  large  for  long  after  this  date. 

And  so  the  problem  had  to  be  solved  another  way  ; 
for  the  Gentile  churches  had  taken  over,  along  with 
the  Jewish  Bible,  the  Jewish  theory  touching  its  na- 
ture as  a  collection  of  literal  oracles,  standing  all  on 
the  same  level  as  absolute  divine  truth.  This  theory 
had  indeed  helped  to  influence  the  Jewish  nation  in 
its  rejection  of  One  who,  by  fulfilling  the  progressive 
tendency  and  spirit  of  these  Scriptures,  made  much 
of  its  past  meaning  and  some  of  its  actual  precepts 
obsolete.  This  obsoleteness  was  realized  as  a  fact  by 
Gentile  Christians ;  but  its  principle  of  divine  con- 
descension to  human  frailty,  in  giving  light  as  men 
were  able  to  bear  it — which  often  meant  twilight — 
was  not  perceived.  What  stood  in  the  way  was  not 
only  lack  of  a  real  notion  of  historic  development 
(like  that  visible  in  an  earthly  father's  training  of 
his  children),  but  also  the  absolute  theory  of  inspira- 
tion which  all  pagans,  learned  and  unlearned,  applied 
to  their  own  sacred  books.  Thus  the  Stoics,  in  par- 
ticular, held  a  "dogma"  that  Homer,  as  inspired, 
could  not  have  meant  any  of  the  crude  theology  and 
ethics  which  his  poems  seemed  to  contain  :  and  so 
by  the  device  of  allegory  they  were  able  to  extract  from 
him  nothing  but  things  edifying  to  their  own  moral 
sense.     It  was  simply  a  choice  of  what  body  of  re- 


382  The  Apostolic  Age. 

vered  writings  should  be  accepted  as  one's  Bible. 
Then  allegorism  produced  very  similar  results ;  as 
we  see  in  the  religious  philosophy  which  Philo 
evolved  from  Moses,  making  Plato's  voice  to  be  heard 
through  the  lips  of  the  Hebrew  Lawgiver. 

So  was  it  with  such  Gentile  Christians  and  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  in  their  Greek  form,  which,  going 
back  two  or  three  centuries,  was  by  this  time  itself 
regarded  as  inspired.  Unaided  by  historic  tradition 
as  to  their  original  sense,  which  lived  more  or  less  in 
the  continuous  life  of  Judaism,  these  outsiders  were 
unable  to  see  the  merely  relative  value  of  distinctive 
Old  Testament  institutions,  as  did  Paul  and  the  au- 
thor of  Hebrews.  They  simply  saw  their  incompati- 
bility, when  put  forward  as  coordinate  with  New 
Testament  institutions:  and  they  rejected  them  sum- 
marily. As  for  a  theory  justifying  this  handling  of 
a  sacred  book,  they  at  first  fell  back  on  the  view  that 
the  inferior  elements  in  the  Old  Testament  had  never 
been  given  by  God  at  all.  They  were  due,  either  to 
a  carnal  misunderstanding  on  the  part  of  Israel  (the 
spiritual  meaning  now  manifest  in  Christ,  and  dis- 
cernible by  allegoric  insight  or  gnosis,  having  been 
all  along  what  God  intended),  or  to  a  deceiving  an- 
gel, to  whom  at  times  fleshly  Israel  had  given  ear. 
The  conduct  in  this  respect,  as  recorded  in  Holy 
Writ,  was  for  warning,  not  for  example.  Though 
the  degrees  of  blame  attaching  to  Israel  for  the 
crudities  of  its  religious  usages  (such  as  circumci- 
sion, Sabbath  and  other  seasons*  distinction  of  meats, 
fasting,  ablutions,  etc.),  varied  considerably  in  a 
"  Barnabas,"  an  Ignatius,  an  Aristides,  a  Justin — 


Relations  of  the   Old  and  New.  383 

the  judgment  tending  on  the  whole  to  become  harsher 
as  time  went  on — yet  the  idea  at  bottom  was  one  and 
the  same. 

It  was  no  real  solution  of  the  problem  left  by  un- 
historical  views  of  Revelation,  taken  over  as  a  fatal 
heritage  from  Judaism  itself;  it  was  a  poor  cutting 
of  the  knot.  But  it  may  suggest  two  things  at  least. 
First,  how  serious  was  the  problem  of  the  relations 
of  the  Old  and  the  New  Revelations,  just  because 
both  were  "  Divine  Revelation  "  ;  and  the  problem  is 
one  which  still  confronts  us  to-day.  And  secondly, 
how  vain  are  all  readings  of  the  Church's  develop- 
ment which  assume  that  it  started  from  the  Apos- 
tolic writings  as  their  authors  meant  them.  The 
fact  is,  that  just  as  there  was  a  veil  lying  on  the 
Jew's  heart  as  he  read  the  Law — a  veil  of  inherited 
prejudice  and  traditionalism — so  was  it  with  the 
Gentile.  Over  his  mind  was  spread,  all  unper- 
ceived,  a  veil  of  Gentile  preconceptions.  And  this 
colored  their  notions  not  only  of  the  revelation  in 
the  Old  Testament,  but  also  of  that  which  came  to 
them  in  Apostolic  Words,  first  as  oral,  and  after- 
wards as  written  and  read  ;  in  either  case,  but  half- 
understood.  In  the  one  case  it  was  the  essence  of 
the  Scriptures  that  was  obscured ;  in  the  other  their 
form.  Thus  the  theology  of  the  second  century 
actually  started  from  half-understood  Apostolic 
teaching;  and  only  gradually  discovered  some  of  its 
own  mistakes,  as  the  study  of  the  New  Testament 
as  a  Canon  or  standard  of  Apostolic  doctrine  became 
general  and  systematic.  Hence  Irenaeus,  Clement, 
and  Tertullian  were  in   a  sense  nearer  to  the  New 


384  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Testament  than  the  so-called  "Apostolic  Fathers"  as 
a  whole.  And  hence,  too,  we  are  to-day  far  nearer 
than  the  one  or  the  other.  Such  is  the  superiority 
of  the  historic  method  to  the  allegoric,  each  being 
but  the  organ  used  by  the  religious  man. 

The  main  drift  of  chapters  ii.-xvi.,  described  as  giv- 
ing insight  [gnosis)  into  the  real  meaning  of  the  past 
in  relation  to  the  present  dealings  of  God  with  man- 
kind in  the  light  of  prophecy,  is  a  criticism  of  Jew- 
ish institutions  and  an  apology  for  Christian  ones  as 
the  fulfilment  all  along  intended  by  Old  Testament 
prophecy.  The  idea  is  that  of  1  Peter  i.  10  f.  rather 
crudely  interpreted. 

"  The  prophets,  having  from  Hirn  (the  Lord)  their  grace,  proph- 
esied with  a  view  to  Him,"  though  the  Jews  missed  the  true 
sense  by  carnal-mindedness.  Thus  Isaiah's  contrast  of  the  false 
and  true  fasting  (lviii.  4-10)  applies  to  Jews  and  Christians  re- 
spectively. Here  the  Long-suffering  One  looked  forward  to  the 
pure  and  simple  faith  of  "  the  People  whom  He  prepared  in  His 
Beloved  (cf.  Eph.  i.  6),  and  showed  us  beforehand  touching  all 
things,  that  we  should  not  as  foreigners  make  shipwreck  upon 
their  Law  "  (iii.).  The  Lord's  Passion  is  related  to  both  peoples, 
the  old  unfaithful  Israel,  and  the  new  believing  People,  "sancti- 
fied by  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  that  is  in  virtue  of  the  sprinkling 
of  His  blood."  His  coming  in  the  flesh  was  to  the  latter  the  con- 
dition of  their  beholding  Him  and  so  being  saved  ;  to  the  former 
it  meant  "summing  up  the  tale  of  their  sins  to  those  who  had 
persecuted  to  death  His  prophets."  All  this  was  shown  of  old 
"in  parable  "  or  mystery.  Now  it  is  manifest,  in  that  "  He  has 
renewed  ns  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  made  us  a  fresh  type,  so 
that  we  have  the  soul  of  little  children,  He  making  us  anew,  as 
it  were."  Such  are  the  true  inheritors  of  the  land  of  milk  and 
honey,  being  fed  by  faith  in  His  promise  of  eternal  life  and  by  the 
word;  and  ere  long,  being  perfected,  they  shall  enter  on  their 
lordship  of  the  earth  in  very  deed  (vi.).  Meantime,  "the  New 
People  "  should  understand  the  necessity  of  the  sufferings  of  the 


Genuine  Piety  of  "Barnabas"  385 

Son  of  God,  and  rejoice  in  the  Cross  as  prophesied  in  type  and 
allegory. 

He  then  takes  in  succession  the  Jewish  institu- 
tions— Circumcision,  Foods,  Ablations,  Covenant, 
Sabbath,  Temple — showing  their  spiritual  reality  in 
the  New  People  and  its  ordinances,  and  that  the 
Cross  was  prefigured  from  the  first.  Though  his 
methods  are  often  grotesquely  fanciful,  the  final  re- 
sult is  both  true  and  finely  spiritual ;  and  the  chap- 
ter which  embodies  it  (xvi.)  may  be  quoted  as  a 
favorable  specimen  of  a  writer  who,  while  undisci- 
plined in  imagination,  has  }ret  a  genuinely  evangelic 
piety,  echoing  at  times  not  only  Paul,  but  also  Peter 
and  the  writer  of  Hebrews.1 

"Moreover  I  will  tell  you  also  concerning  the  Temple,  how  the 
poor  wretches  heiug  led  astray  set  their  hope  on  the  building,  and 
not  on  their  God  that  made  them,  as  if  it  were  verily  the  house  of 
God.  For  almost  after  Gentile  fashion  they  enshrined  Him  in 
the  Temple  "—in  face  of  Isaiah  xl.  12,  lxvi.  1.  "Yea  farther  He 
saith  again  :  Behold  they  that  pulled  down  this  Temple  shall  them- 
selves build  it.  It  is  coming  to  pass.  For  because  they  went  to 
war,  it  was  pulled  down  by  their  enemies.  Now  even  the 
enemy's  very  servants  (/.  e.,  the  subjects  of  Rome)  shall  build  it 
anew.  Once  more,  it  was  revealed  how  the  city  and  the  temple 
and   the  people  of  Israel  should  be  betrayed.     For  the  Scripture 

1  This  Evangelic  quality  in  Barnabas  does  not  always  get  its 
due.  But  it  is  quite  marked,  as  compared  with  the  new  Legalism 
or  "moralism  "  seen  in  Hennas,  II  Clement,  and  Justin  Martyr. 
He  is  quite  free  from  the  mechanical  view  of  post-baptismal  sin, 
seen  in  the  two  former  for  instance:  of  Apostolic  writings  he 
shows  most  traces  of  Ephesians,  1  Timothy,  1  Peter,  Hebrews. 
On  the  other  hand  he  does  not  seem  to  know  our  gospels.  Thus 
he  thinks  of  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension  as  occurring  on  the 
same  day  (xv.  9). 
Y 


386  The  Apostolic  Age. 

[Enoch,  lxxxix.  56,  66]  1  saitb  :  And  it  shall  be  in  the  last  days, 
that  the  Lord  shalt  deliver  up  the  sheep  of  the  pasture  and  the  fold  and 
the  tower  thereof  to  destruction.  And  it  has  come  to  pass  as  the 
Lord  spake  (the  rejection  of  the  Jews  in  70  A.  D.,  cf.  iv.  14). 
Let  us  inquire,  then,  whether  there  be  any  shrine  of  God.  There 
is,  in  the  place  where  Himself  undertakes  to  make  and  perfect  it. 
For  it  is  written  :2  And  it  shall  come  to  jwss,  when  the  week  is  com- 
ing to  an  end,  the  shrine  of  God  shall  be  built  gloriously  upon  the  name 
of  the  Lord.  I  find  then  that  there  is  a  shrine.  How  then  shall 
it  be  built  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord?  Understand  ye.  Before 
we  believed  on  God  the  abode  of  our  heart  was  corrupt  and  weak, 
verily  a  shrine  built  by  hands  ;  for  it  was  full  of  idolatry  and  was 
a  house  of  demons,  because  we  did  all  that  was  contrary  to  God. 
But  it  shall  be  built  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  observe,  that  the 
shrine  of  God  may  be  built  gloriously.  How  ?  Understand  ye. 
By  receiving  the  remission  of  sins  and  hoping  on  the  Name  we 
became  new,  in  process  of  being  created  all  over  again.  Accord- 
ingly in  our  habitation  God  dwelleth  of  a  truth,  even  in  us. 
How?  His  word  of  faith,  His  calling  by  way  of  promise,  the 
wisdom  of  the  precepts,  the  injunctions  of  the  teaching,  He  Him- 
self in  us  prophesying,  He  Himself  in  us  dwelling,  leadeth  us, 
once  the  enslaved  of  death,  into  the  incorruptible  shrine,  opening 
the  door  of  the  shrine,  that  is  the  mouth,  in  giving  us  repentance. 
For  he  that  yearneth  to  be  saved  looketh  not  to  the  man,  but  to 
Him  that  dwelleth  in  him  and  speaketh,  in  amazement  at  this 
very  thing,  namely,  that  he  has  never  listened  to  the  words  from 
the  speaker's  mouth  nor  himself  ever  desired  to  hear  them.  This 
is  the  spiritual  shrine  being  built  to  the  Lord." 

God  is  best  manifested  in  the  believer  and  his 
words  for  God.  "  For  where  the  Lordship  finds  ut- 
terance, there  is  the  Lord."     So  said  the  Didache. 

1  The  text  in  our  Enoch  is  not  quite  the  same.  But  we  have 
already  seen  reason  to  suspect  that  "Barnabas"  knew  an  edition 
reedited  after  70  A.  D. 

2  Probably  from  Enoch  (xci.  13):  "And  at  its  (the  eighth 
week's)  close  .  .  .  the  house  of  the  Great  King  will  be  built 
in  glory  forevermore." 


Date  of  "Barnabas."  387 

So  says  "  Barnabas."  Christians  are  God's  true 
shrine,  both  severally  and  collectively.  Hence  the 
burden  of  the  epistle  is  that  they  should  live  up  to 
this  high  idea  of  religion.  "  Let  us  be  spiritual,  let 
us  be  a  perfect  shrine  for  God  "  (iv.  11). 

"  Barnabas "  expects  the  immediate  advent  of 
"  the  final  offence,"  Anti-Christ's  short  hour  before 
Messiah's  manifestation  in  power,  to  inaugurate  His 
Millennial  Sabbath.  Nero  is  to  return  and  humble 
the  three  Flavian  rulers.  This  expectation  is  based, 
partly  on  the  feeling  that  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem was  the  beginning  of  the  end,  and  partly  on 
the  apparent  fulfilment  of  Daniel's  prophecy  (vii.  7  f. 
24)  in  the  then  peculiar  threefold  nature  of  the 
headship  of  the  Empire  (the  Beast).  He  does  not 
seem  to  imply  any  existing  persecution  on  the  part 
of  the  State,  though  he  regards  suffering  as  the  ap- 
pointed way  to  the  Kingdom  (vii.  11),  meaning 
social  persecution  of  various  kinds.  These  points 
will  meet  us  again  in  considering  the  Apocalypse. 
Meantime  the  last  of  them  favors  a  date  for  "  Bar- 
nabas "  earlier  than  John's  vision,  and  within  two  or 
three  years  after  70  A.  D. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   APOCALYPSE   OF   JOHN. 

POCALYPSES  in  every  shape  and  form 
may  be  described  generally  as  Tracts  for 
the  Times,  and  specially  as  Tracts  for 
bad  times.  They  are  called  forth  by 
pressing  needs.  Their  aim  is  a  most  prac- 
tical one,  namely  to  succor  distressed  faith  by  cast- 
ing light  upon  the  long  wa}r  when  it  leads  through 
dark  valleys  and  over  arid  wastes,  and  when  hope 
deferred  maketh  sick  the  hearts  that  wait  on  God. 
They  are  also  essentially  Latter-Day  writings. 
For,  though  they  generally  begin  with  a  review  of 
God's  past  dealings  with  His  people — cast  in  the  form 
of  visions  vouchsafed  to  some  Old  Testament  worthy 
— they  always  end  with  a  forecast  of  the  immediate 
future,  viewed  from  the  writer's  own  age  and  stand- 
point, and  often  of  the  Final  Consummation  also. 
In  fact  they  paint  the  penultimate  acts  in  the  divine 
drama,  "  the  mystery  of  God."  Thus  they  are 
eschatological  in  substance,  while  historical  in  form. 
The  historical  survey  serves  to  unfold  the  philosophy 
or  rationale  of  God's  dealings,  His  judgments  in 
particular — whether  on  His  own  people  or  upon 
those  used  as  instruments  in  His  chastening  hand ; 
and  so  the  mind  is  led  to  perceive  by  analogy  what 
He  is  just  about  to  do  in  the  hour  of  action  soon  to 
follow  the  painful  hour  of  His  silence  and  apparent 
neglect. 


True  Theory  of  the  Apocalypse.  389 

Such  are  the  general  laws  of  apocalyptic,  both 
Jewish  and  Judseo-Christian  :  for  we  have  no  early- 
instance  of  a  purely  Gentile  Christian  Apocalypse. 
And  to  these  laws  the  one  Christian  example,  the 
supreme  one  of  its  kind,  which  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness, after  many  misgivings '  throughout  the 
second  and  third  centuries,  decided  to  include  in  its 
sacred  Canon,  most  notably  conforms.  This  it  does 
explicitly  in  proclaiming  blessed  "him  that  readeth 
and  them  that  hear  the  words  of  the  prophecy," 
who  observe  the  practical  instructions  laid  down  for 
conduct  during  the  season  contemplated;  "for  the 
season  is  at  hand "  (i.  3).  The  plain  meaning  of 
this  could  never  be  missed  save  under  the  influence 
of  an  arbitrary  theory,  which  sets  the  Divine  pur- 
pose of  the  book  in  diametrical  opposition  (as  re- 
gards time-reference)  to  the  aim  which  its  human 
author  had  in  view  in  writing  his  visions.  But  now 
at  least,  the  analogy  of  the  apocalyptic  form,  to 
which  the  work  presumably  conforms  just  as  every 
other  book  in  the  New  Testament  to  the  literary 
type  adopted,  makes  only  one  view  possible  to  a  can- 
did reader.  Its  lessons  were  for  its  first  readers,  be- 
cause they  needed  its  explicit  consolations  and  warn- 
ings. Its  horizon  therefore  is  their  horizon.  If  it 
has  abiding  lessons  for  our  age  and  every  age,  it  is 
simply  as  have  the  other  hortatory  books  of  the  Bible. 
It  can  speak  aright  only  to  the  mind  that  seizes 
upon  the  eternal  principles  of  the  spiritual  world 

'These  misgivings  reappeared  after  the  Reformation,  when 
Biblical  truth  and  "  the  analogy  of  faith  "  as  a  whole  began  to  be 
considered  afresh. 


390  The  Apostolic  Age. 

therein  exemplified  or  symbolized  with  surpass- 
ing impressiveness,  and  then  reapplies  them  by- 
sound  parity  of  reasoning  to  the  conditions  of  its 
own  age.  But  the  task  is  more  difficult  than  in  the 
other  cases,  by  reason  of  its  symbolic  form  and  the 
fact  that  we  are  only  gradually  recovering  the  key 
to  the  cipher — a  cipher  meant  partly  to  conceal  the 
contents  from  the  possible  glance  of  foes  and 
would-be  persecutors.  The  true  key  is  a  knowledge 
of  world-history  as  it  lived  in  the  minds  of  the  writer 
and  of  his  contemporaries,  particularly  the  Christian 
communities  of  the  Roman  province  of  Asia. 

All  Apocalyptic  is  concerned  with  the  strife  of  the 
Divine  and  the  anti-divine  in  the  world.  These  in 
the  apostolic  age  were  embodied  in  the  Messianic 
Kingdom  and  its  foes,  the  sway  of  Christ  and  forces 
of  resistance  which  came  in  time  to  be  summed  up 
in  the  idea  of  Anti-Christ.  But  even  in  the  Apos- 
tolic Age  the  scene  changed  rapidly.  At  first  the 
prime  foe  was  unbelieving  Judaism,  which  for  Chris- 
tian thought  passed  more  and  more  into  final  apostasy. 
After  70,  however,  Judaism  was  no  longer  of  the 
first  moment.  And  the  rival  of  its  spiritual  succes- 
sor, the  New  Messianic  Israel  the  world  over,  was 
seen  to  be  the  world-power  of  Rome.  There  is  thus 
no  slight  change  as  between  2  Thess.  and  John's 
Apocalypse,  a  change  concerning  the  place  of  the 
Roman  State  in  relation  to  the  people  of  God.  To 
Paul  the  Roman  system  had  stood/or  the  Christians, 
as  a  system  of  law  and  equity  restraining  the  lawless 
self-will  of  individuals  and  interested  classes  in  soci- 
ety, such  as  the  Jews.    In  the  Apocalypse  it  appears, 


Christian  View  of  Rome.  391 

like  one  of  the  older  empires  in  Daniel  and  later 
Apocalyptic,  as  the  arch  foe,  the  embodiment  of  brute 
force,  of  might  versus  right — in  a  word  as  the  Beast. 
In  this  it  simply  reflects  the  new  experience  of  the 
Church  since  Paul  wrote,  including  his  own  death 
and  that  of  Peter  and  the  other  victims  of  Nero's 
atrocious  brutality.  Rome  had  changed  in  practice  ; 
and  this,  from  the  Christian  standpoint,  justified  the 
new  feeling  toward  the  Roman  State  as  such.  Yet 
it  was  not  merely  the  fact  of  persecution  that  gave 
to  the  Apocalypse  its  distinctive  passion ;  it  was 
equally  the  grounds  on  which  it  rested,  namely 
Caesar-worship  and  the  demand  it  made  on  Chris- 
tians in  common  with  all  the  Roman  world.  Such 
idolatry  of  Rome  and  her  heads,  the  Emperors  deified 
after  death,  if  not  during  life  (the  Beast's  heads 
have  "names  of  blasphemy"),  was  specially  preva- 
lent in  the  provinces,  and  most  of  all  in  provincial 
Asia.  Here  it  was  highly  organized  with  a  regular 
priesthood,  "  the  False-Prophet  "  associated  with  the 
Beast  (e.  g.,  xvi.  13). 1  Accordingly  everything  points 
to  "  Asia  "  as  the  home  of  the  Apocalypse,  addressed 
as  it  is  to  the  leading  churches  of  that  province. 
Into  the  great  richness  of  detail  and  imagery  drawn 
from  various  quarters,2  it  is  here  needless  to  enter. 

'In  xiii.  11  it  seems  meant  by  the  Beast  from  the  land,  with 
two  horns  as  of  a  lamb,  perhaps  Anti-Christ's  caricature  of  the 
"  two  witnesses,"  cf.  xi.  3  ff . 

5  It  is  simply  saturated  with  the  imagery  and  language  of  the 
Old  Testament  (see  the  text  as  printed  in  Westcott  and  Hort). 
But  it  also  implies  a  knowledge  of  current  Jewish  Apocalyptic; 
and  in  ch.  xii.  1  ff.  seems  to  use  imagery  derived  ultimately  from 
Babylonian  astro-mythology  (e.  g.,  the  conflict  of  Tiamat  and 
Marduk,  prime  figures  in  its  creation-myth). 


392  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

The  absorbing  motive  of  the  work,  which,  whatever 
the  forms  in  which  some  of  the  material  may  have 
preexisted,  presents  an  artistic  unity,  is  clearly  the 
struggle  between  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb,  on  the  one  part,  and  that  of  the  world  (ac- 
tuated by  Satanic  agencies)  on  the  other.  And  as 
the  worldly  spirit  attained  its  most  fascinating  form 
in  the  Roman  empire  (the  Beast),  with  its  centre  in 
the  city  of  the  Seven  Hills  (the  Harlot  beguiling 
the  potentates  of  earth  into  spiritual  fornication  or 
infidelity  to  God),  it  is  Rome  in  its  several  aspects 
of  rivalry  to  God  that  fills  the  midst  of  the  apoca- 
lyptic picture. 

The  key  to  the  situation,  then,  lies  in  chapters 
xiii.,  xvii.  The  Beast  from  the  sea  (taken  over  from 
Daniel),  with  its  compliment  of  ten  horns  (centres  of 
power)  and  its  seven  heads  on  which  were  "names  of 
blasphemy,"  was  felt  to  be  realized  in  the  Roman  Em- 
pire.1 Its  irresistible  might  seemed  but  the  focussed 
energy  of  the  Satanic  Power  always  at  work  in  the 
world  in  opposition  to  God's  sway.  And  not  long  before 
John  wrote,  it  had  given  a  striking  proof  of  vitality. 
The  Julian  line  of  Caesars,  five  in  number,  had  come 
to  a  violent  end  in  the  death  of  Nero  (A.  D.  68) : 
but  the  wound  which  had  gaped  during  a  period  of 
civil  wars,  was  now  healed  in  the  person  of  Vespasian, 

•The  Beast  represents,  now  the  Empire,  and  now  the  Eraperor 
in  whom  its  evil  side  finds  vent.  So  the  mystic  number  666  (xiii. 
18)  is  probably  generic  (e.  g.,  Lateinos-a.  Roman)  and  not  a  single 
person  like  Nero — a  view  which  implies  the  use  of  Hebrew  letters 
to  fit  at  all.  As  regards  the  epoch,  three  and  a  half  years  or 
forty-two  mouths  or  1,260  days,  it  is  a  traditional  symbol  for 
the  time  of  Anti-Christ's  sway  (e.  g.,  xii.  6,  14,  xiii.  5). 


The  Coming  of  Anti-  Christ.  393 


supported  by  his  son  Titus.  Yet  it  could  not  last. 
Nero's  rule  was  clearly  the  prelude  of  the  complete 
manifestation  of  Anti-Christ.  There  was  but  one 
more  head  wanting  to  complete  the  mystic  seven, 
the  perfect  tale  of  the  world's  rivalry  of  God  and 
His  heavenly  agencies  (cf.  the  Seven  Spirits  of  God, 
Seven  Angels,  etc.).  It  could  not  be  long  in  appear- 
ing, nor  could  it  long  endure  before  the  return  to 
life  of  Nero  (the  eighth  who  was  also  "  one  of  the 
seven  ")  should  bring  on  the  final  catastrophe.  His 
previous  enormities  were  but  a  foretaste.  In  partic- 
ular, he  was  to  take  his  revenge  in  characteristic 
fashion  on  Rome  whence  he  had  been  forced  to  flee  in 
humiliation,  and  so  become  the  scourge  of  God  on 
the  arch-foe.  John  expects  that  Nero,  who  even  in 
his  "  return  "  was  to  ape  the  Christ,  would  be  ani- 
mated with  more  than  his  former  measure  of  Satanic 
energies1  and,  gathering  about  him  the  provincial 
governors  (the  "ten  heads"  of  the  beast),  would 
turn  upon  the  city  of  Rome  and  consume  her  with 
fire  (as  once  before  in  part).  Then  would  be  the  Mes- 
sianic intervention ;  the  riding  forth  of  Messiah  as 
"  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,"  to  take  posses- 
sion of  His  Kingdom  ;  the  final  stand  of  the  powers 
of  evil  and  their  overthrow ;  the  casting  of  the  Beast 
(Nero)  and  the  False-Prophet 2  into  the  "  lake  of 
fire,"  and  therewith  the  loss  of  all  real  power  to 
the  Ancient  Serpent,  Satan;  and  the  Millennial  reign 

1  The  Ascension  of  Isaiah  had  imagined  him  developing  into  this 
without  first  dying. 

5  Suggested  perhaps  by  the  Asiarch  or  chief  priest  of  the  Imper- 
ial cult  in  "Asia." 


394  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  Christ  and  His  late  martyrs,  the  heritors  of  the 
first  resurrection.  Yet  in  the  borders  of  the  inhab- 
ited earth  there  are  unexhausted  elements  of  revolt 
(cf.  the  active  reign  of  1  Cor.  xv.  25  ff.).  Satan  is 
let  loose  once  more,  and  leads  the  savage  hordes 
of  Gog  and  Magog  (names  borrowed  from  Ezek. 
xxxviii.  f.)  against  "  the  camp  of  the  Saints  and  the 
Beloved  City."  But  God's  fire  devours  them,  and 
the  devil,  the  ultimate  root  of  error,  is  cast  into  the 
hopeless  doom  of  the  Lake  of  Fire.  There  ensues 
the  second  or  general  resurrection,  and  the  Judg- 
ment of  the  dead  according  to  their  deeds,  those  not 
found  in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life  being  consigned 
to  the  "  second  death  "  of  the  "  lake  of  fire."  Then 
at  last  comes  the  great  transformation  and  renova- 
tion of  all  things,  "the  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth,"  all  evil  and  instability  (of  which  the  sea  was 
the  type)  being  forever  done  away.  The  Divine 
and  heavenly  penetrates  and  transfigures  the  earthly. 
The  dream  of  prophets  and  psalmists  is  fulfilled. 
The  outer  and  visible  are  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
inner  and  spiritual.  The  centre  of  the  regenerate 
earth  shall  be  the  New  Jerusalem,  heavenly  in  origin 
and  nature,  the  home  of  the  redeemed,  the  sphere  of 
God's  manifested  presence.  Once  more  at  the  close, 
as  at  the  opening  of  the  book,  the  practical  aim  of 
the  "  prophecy  "  as  a  message  for  the  writer's  age 
comes  out  unmistakably  (xxii.  10  ff.).  Warnings 
and  invitations  are  given  ;  and  the  music  dies  away 
on  its  keynote :  "  He  that  testifieth  these  things 
saith, 'Yea,  I  come  quickly.'  'Amen:  come,  Lord 
Jesus.'  " 


John's  Idea  of  the  Church  or  Bride.  395 

So  far  we  have  set  forth  the  message  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse as  it  was  meant  to  influence  Christian  con- 
duct at  the  point  where  the  tension  of  faith  was 
most  sorely  felt.  The  constant  "  asides,"  or  paren- 
theses pointing  the  moral  of  the  drama  of  the  near 
future,  as  it  unfolds  its  pictures  of  warning  and  of 
glorious  compensation,  show  the  seer's  deep  solici- 
tude that  what  he  had  seen  should  brace  his  breth- 
ren to  the  heroism  of  faith  requisite  to  stand  the 
dreadful  strain  which  he  expected  to  increase  every 
day.  For  during  an  indefinite  interval — "  time,  times, 
and  half  a  time" — "the  patience  of  the  Saints"  was 
to  be  tried,  ere  the  Parousia  stilled  the  raging  of  the 
Beast  and  brought  the  great  Rest  of  the  Messianic 
Reign.  But  his  work  also  affords  indirect  but  price- 
less evidence  as  to  the  religious  situation  within 
the  churches  best  known  to  him.  And  to  this  at- 
tention must  now  be  given. 

While  the  prime  theme  of  the  book  is  the  Church 
and  its  fortunes,  the  term  'the  Church'  never  occurs 
in  its  pages.  This  is  not  accidental :  it  arises  from 
the  author's  mode  of  thought,  and  would  have  been 
impossible  in  St.  Paul,  if  writing  on  such  a  subject. 
John  thinks  of  "  the  churches"  that  are  in  Asia,  that 
is  the  local  communities  of  the  Saints,  over  against 
the  synagogues  of  those  to  whom  he  denies  the  high 
title  of  Jews,  since  they  have  proved  unworthy  of 
their  ideal  calling  in  rejecting  the  Christ  of  God. 
But  in  their  collective  being  he  thinks  of  Christians 
under  one  or  other  of  the  Old  Testament  titles  for 
the  Covenant  People — saints,  servants  of  God,  those 
who  fear  God— or  as  "  the  Bride."     This  also  is  an 


396  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Old  Testament  form  of  thought.  The  prophets  had 
spoken  of  Israel  as  married  to  Jehovah,  so  that  infi- 
delity to  His  Covenant  was  described  in  terms  of 
the  conjugal  relation.  So  John  sees  the  New  Jeru- 
salem, the  ideal  community  of  the  Saints,  "descend- 
ing out  of  heaven  from  God,  prepared  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband"  (Is.  lxi.  10;  cf.  lii.  1).  It 
is  true  that  the  Bridegroom,  in  keeping  with  the 
mediatorial  character  of  the  Messianic  Kingdom,  is 
now  described  as  the  Lamb  (xix.  7,  xxi.  9 ;  cf.  xxii.  17). 
Yet  the  essential  Old  Testament  idea  abides,  contin- 
uous with  the  old  notion  of  a  God  as  married  to  a 
chosen  Land  and  People.  This  explains  the  fact 
that  there  seems  to  be  an  outer  circle  of  men,  less 
closely  related  to  God  than  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Beloved  City.  The  whole  outlook  is  of  deep  signifi- 
cance as  showing  that  our  seer  conceives  the  Gospel 
and  its  People  as  a  sublimated  Judaism,  from  which 
indeed  all  practical  exclusiveness,  because  all  na- 
tionalism, has  departed  through  the  substitution  of 
spiritual  for  natural  or  fleshly  relationship  as  the 
essence  of  the  Divine  Covenant.1     Yet  the  old  forms 

1  In  this  connection  allusion  may  be  made  to  the  true  sense  of 
xi.  1  ff.,  a  passage  often  thought  to  refer  to  the  Temple  of  Jerusa- 
lem shortly  before  70  A.  D.  The  whole  genius  of  the  book  fixes 
the  scene  as  one  in  the  spiritual  world.  The  "Temple  of  God" 
means  the  spiritual  reality  of  the  earthly  counterpart.  This  latter 
is  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  being  treated  as  "the  outer  court" 
aud  given  over  to  the  Gentiles,  along  with  the  Holy  City,  during 
the  season  of  final  pagan  triumph.  On  the  other  hand  "the 
Temple  of  God,"  measured  as  being  under  God's  protection,  sig- 
nifies the  Christian  Church  (cf.  iii.  12  ;  so  Heb.  xii.  22  ff.  ;  Barn, 
xvi.  1,  8),  and  its  "altar"  the  sacrificial  function  of  the  priestly 
Kingdom  (i.  6)  of  Saints,  who  offer  as  incense  their  prayers  (v.  9). 


The  True  Judaism.  397 

remain  through  and  through,  as  types  indicating 
the  route  by  which  the  advance  has  taken  place  in 
the  writer's  experience  and  thought.  Thus  it  is  a 
complete  mistake,  due  to  a  literalism  alien  to  the 
work's  transcendent  poetic  form,  to  see  any  prefer- 
ence for  Jews  as  such,  as  contrasted  with  the  Cove- 
nant piety  which,  for  long  peculiar  to  Israel  as  a 
People,  has  now  received  final  expression  in  "  the 
testimony  of  Jesus."  It  is  on  acceptance  or  rejec- 
tion of  this  that  all  turns.  Thus  all  who,  being 
Jews  by  birth  and  tradition,  refuse  Jesus — who  as 
Messiah  incarnated  the  Covenant  religion — thereby 
declare  themselves  no  true  Jews  in  spirit,  but  spu- 
rious Jews  and  as  such  as  much  under  Satan's  sway 
as  the  unbelieving  nations  (iii.  9,  xi.  8).  Conversely 
those  Gentiles  who,  by  the  spiritual  adhesion  of  trust 
and  obedience,  claim  affinity  with  Jesus,  fall  within 
the  Covenant  People,  continuous  with  the  holy  core 
of  Israel  and  whence  Messiah  was  born  through 
the  special  agency  of  God  (xii.  1  ff.).  They  and  the 
believing  part  of  the  Jewish  Diaspora  seem  to  be 
"  the  rest  of  the  seed  "  of  the  "  Woman  arrayed  with 
the  sun,"  who  herself  represents  true  Israel  within 
the  limits  of  the  Holy  Land,  in  whose  bosom  Mes- 
siah was  nurtured.  Thus  the  144,000,  the  ideal  com- 
plement of  those  "  called  and  chosen  and  faithful 

Thus  "the  worshippers"  in  this  temple  are  the  same  as  the 
144,000,  as  already  numbered  (vii.  4)  arid  again  mentioned  as 
standing  with  the  Lamb  on  the  spiritual  "Mount  Zion,"  in 
xiv.  1  ff.  They  are  in  fact  the  martyr  Church,  represented  again 
figuratively  as  God's  "two  witnesses"  (xi.  3ff.).  "  The  great  city  " 
where  these  lie  slain  is  not  "  the  Holy  City  "  of  v.  2,  but  the 
world — where  their  Lord  suffered  (cf.  1  Cor.  ii.  8) ;  so  in  v.  13. 


398  The  Apostolic  Age. 

ones "  who  form  the  first-fruits  of  redeemed  hu- 
manity and  share  in  the  first  stage  of  the  Messianic 
Kingdom — the  millennium  preceding  the  final  over- 
throw of  the  powers  of  evil — this  company  is  gathered 
"out  of  every  people"  and  by  the  Lamb's  sacrificial 
ransom  made  "unto  God  a  Kingdom  and  priests," 
destined  to  "reign  upon  the  earth."1  Thus  'the 
Judaism  of  our  author  is  the  Judaism  merely  in 
form  which  we  also  see  in  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,'  1  Peter,  and  the  Gospel  of  Matthew. 
The  light  cast  by  the  Apocalypse  on  the  state  of 
Christianity,  at  least  in  the  province  of  Asia,  some 
time  during  the  second  generation  of  Christians,  is 
most  vivid  and  informing.  Beside  clear  echoes  of 
the  deep  impression  produced  by  the  Neronian 
martyrdoms,  including  those  of  Paul  and  Peter 
(xvii.  6,  xviii.  20),  there  are  hints  of  the  conditions 
nearer  in  time  and  place.  Thus  in  Smyrna  and 
Philadelphia  the  Jews  were  the  chief  instigators  of 
hostility  and  persecution;  while  at  Pergamum  other 
and  more  special  causes  were  operative.  In  this 
city  stood  the  great  temple  of  iEsculapius  (Zeus 
Asklepios),  the  Healer  or  Saviour,  whose  symbol 
was  the  Serpent.  It  is  most  natural  then  to  see  in 
the  phrase  "  the  throne  of  Satan "  a  special  refer- 
ence to  this  cult,  which  as  rival  or  caricature  to  that 
of  the  true  Saviour  of  mankind   might  well  seem 


•v.  9,  vii.  3-9,  xiv.  1-5.  These  passages,  as  Beyschlag  shows 
convincingly  (New  Testament  Theology,  ii.  389  f.),  refer  to  the  same 
class,  "the  first-fruits  to  God  and  the  Lamb,"  sealed  unto  the 
millennial  triumph  for  fidelity  in  the  days  of  tribulation  between 
the  persecution  of  Messiah  and  His  Parousia. 


Persecution  and  other  Dangers.  399 

more  than  ordinarily  Satanic.1  This  it  was  which 
caused  an  exceptional  outbreak  "  in  the  days  of 
Antipas,"  a  Christian  whose  bold  protest  made  him 
a  victim  to  popular  fury.  His  death  was  followed  by 
lesser  persecutions  of  his  co-religionists,  who  had 
stood  firm  and  "  held  fast  to  the  Name." 

But  John's  own  enforced  exile  from  Ephesus,  a 
great  centre  of  influence,  to  the  solitary  little  isle 
of  Patmos,  seems  to  be  the  first  case  in  those  parts 
of  a  State  policy  of  interference,  with  the  object  of 
checking  the  spread  of  the  new  religion  regarded  as 
inimical  to  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  Empire,  because 
obstinately  indifferent  to  its  religious  claims.  To 
punish  the  ringleader  with  exile  would  be  the  first 
stage  of  a  repressive  policy,  and  is  not  the  token  of 
settled  severity.  This  looks,  too,  like  the  policy  of 
a  judicial  ruler  like  Vespasian,  rather  than  of  a  Nero  or 
Domitian.  Yet  in  it,  and  perhaps  also  in  some  later 
and  more  summary  penalties  on  the  humbler  ad- 
herents in  various  cities,  John  sees  the  beginning  of 
that  overt  hostility  of  the  world-power  whose  in- 
herent enmity  in  principle  he  had  long  felt.  The 
world  as  such  lay  to  his  eye  in  the  thraldom 
of  the  wicked  one :  and  Apocalyptic  literature  and 
tradition  had  taught  him  to  expect,  ere  Messiah's 
ardently  looked-for  Return,  a  sharp  outburst  of 
the   inherent    Satanism   of   the   world.      Hence   he 


1  This  view,  as  based  on  the  most  distinctive  feature  of  the 
place,  seems  better  than  that  which  sees  in  "  the  throne  of  Satan  " 
the  chief  centre  of  Ciesar-worship,  a  thing  which  cannot  be 
proved  of  Pergaujuiu,  rather  than  Ephesus  for  instance  (see  Zahn^ 
Einleitung,  ii.  600). 


400  The  Apostolic  Age. 


warned  the  Church  at  Smyrna  not  to  fear  what  of  suf- 
fering lay  in  the  near  future,  the  imprisonment 
with  which  the  Devil  was  already  threatening  them 
unto  their  testing  for  a  brief  season  (ii.  10).  Hitherto 
Christian  "  endurance  "  has  been  tried  chiefly  by  the 
machinations  of  blaspheming  Judaism,  "  the  syna- 
gogue of  Satan  "  ;  but  now  it  will  feel  the  arm  of  the 
civil  power  (ii.  2,  9,  iii.  9  f.).  The  State's  repressive 
measures  had  not  yet  actually  got  beyond  imprison- 
ment for  the  Christian  profession  (ii.  10)  ;  but  "  fidel- 
ity even  unto  death  "  might  soon  be  required.  Yet 
the  strain,  through  which  faith  should  gain  the 
Crown  of  Life,  was  not  to  be  prolonged.  From  the 
season  of  yet  greater  testing,  coming  to  try  all 
dwellers  upon  earth,  faithful  Christians  in  Phila- 
delphia are  promised  exemption  ;  that  is,  they  were 
to  be  rapt  to  the  side  of  their  returning  Lord,  to 
share  in  His  judicial  reign  over  the  peoples  (iii.  10  f., 
ii.  27  f.),  and  to  be  "  pillars  "  in  the  spiritual  temple 
of  God,  sharers  in  "  the  New  Jerusalem  that  descend- 
eth  out  of  heaven  from  God."  It  is  against  foregoing 
this  high  privilege  through  unwatchfulness,  as  of  the 
Foolish  Virgins — for  the  Lord  would  come  unlooked- 
for  as  a  thief — that  certain  in  Sardes  are  admonished. 
The  dangers  making  for  such  unreadiness  of  soul 
were  twofold,  worldliness  of  heart  and  idolatry  or 
unchastity  in  walk.  To  the  former  was  due  the 
cooling  of  "  the  first  love,"  in  a  slight  degree  visible 
at  Ephesus  (ii.  4),  and  to  a  serious  degree  in  Laodicea 
(iii.  15-19).  The  latter  were  the  besetting  sins  at 
Pergamum  and  Thyatira.  They  were  in  principle 
the  same  as  those  combated  by  Jude  and  again  in 


11  The  Deep  Things  of  Satan."  401 

our  2  Peter.  Here  too  there  were  light  thoughts 
of  idolatrous  associations  and  of  the  moral  habits 
which  went  hand  in  hand  therewith.  It  is  not  quite 
clear,  indeed,  whether  "  fornication  "  is  in  all  cases 
to  be  taken  literally,  rather  than  in  the  sense  of 
spiritual  infidelity  to  the  sole  allegiance  to  God,  as 
often  in  the  Old  Testament  (see  ii.  20  as  compared 
with  ii.  14).  But  certainly  it  is  so  sometimes,  as  it 
was  in  Jude.  In  the  special  instance  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  "  prophetess  "  called  Jezebel,  perhaps  in  a 
mystical  sense,  a  theory  of  a  "  gnostic  "  nature  under- 
lay the  conduct  in  question.  She  taught,  that  is,  the 
indifference  of  outward  action  where  the  mind  saw 
through  "  the  deep  things  of  Satan  " — to  use  their 
phrase — and  could  regard  the  hold  which  evil  seemed 
to  get  on  the  person  through  the  body  as  mere  de- 
ception, as  long  as  the  spirit  asserted  its  "  redemp- 
tion "  through  Christ  and  its  inalienable  "  freedom." 
Thus  participation  in  an  idol  feast  and  its  attendant 
usages  simply  did  not  matter :  indeed,  it  showed 
superior  enlightenment  to  feel  free  to  join  therein 
and  not  fear  the  usurping  and  now  dethroned  powers 
of  ill.  Whether  this  was  precisely  the  same  as  the 
Nicolaitanism  named  as  existing  at  Pergamum,  and 
as  having  vainly  tried  to  get  a  footing  at  Ephesus, 
we  cannot  be  sure.  To  the  latter  place  it  had  come 
from  outside  in  the  persons  of  false  "  apostles  "  (cf. 
Acts  xx.  29),  claiming  the  sanction  of  a  certain 
Nicolaus,  perhaps  "the  proselyte  of  Antioch"  of 
Acts  vi.  5,1  who  may  with  the  lapse  of  years  have 

1  This  is  definitely  alleged  in  the  tradition  followed  by  Clement 
of  Alexandria. 

Z 


402  The  Apostolic  Age. 

turned  into  a  "  wolf "  (cf.  Did.  xvi.  3).  For  the 
seductions  of  a  city  like  Antioch,  full  of  religious 
sensuality,  were  very  subtle.  Paul  probably  realized 
the  existence  of  this  tendency;  and  now  it  had 
reached  Ephesus,  along  the  main  route  from  Antioch 
westwards.  And  once  more  an  Apostolic  voice  makes 
itself  heard  in  passionate  protest  against  religion 
divorced  from  pure  morals,  light  apart  from  life,  or 
any  freedom  that  was  not  the  liberty  of  loving  obe- 
dience to  God  in  the  footsteps  of  Jesus  the  faithful 
Witness,  the  holder  of  the  "  two-edged  sword"  that 
pierced  through  all  tissues  of  lies,  whose  eyes  were 
as  a  flame  of  fire  to  mark  iniquity  in  the  guise  of 
holiness.  Hence  the  recurring  stress  upon  Christ- 
like "  works,"  those  "  fruits  "  which  the  Master  had 
made  the  one  final  test  of  true  religion. 

These  messages  to  the  churches  may  perhaps  be 
taken  to  indicate  the  sort  of  prophetic  exhortation 
which  filled  a  prominent  place  in  the  worship  of  the 
early  Christians,  just  as  the  hymns  which  occur  in 
the  later  visions  seem  to  echo  their  wonted  praises, 
and,  as  such,  have  an  extra  interest  for  us.  The 
phraseology  is  full  of  allusiveness,  the  full  point  of 
which  largely  escapes  the  modern  reader.  The  fig- 
urative color  borrowed  from  the  Old  Testament  is 
obvious,  both  in  the  rewards  promised  to  the  "  over- 
comers"  and  in  the  titles  given  to  the  Risen  Christ, 
"  the  faithful  and  true  Witness,"  once  known  on  earth 
and  through  whose  lips  the  messages  now  come  from 
God  by  the  Spirit  (i.  1, 18,  ii.  7,  iii.  14).  But  there 
is  also  allusion  to  the  sacred  terminology  of  the  pa- 
gan mysteries,  in  a  passage  like  that  in  which  "  the 


"The  Hidden  Manna:1  403 

manna,  the  hidden  manna,"  and  "the  white  (symbolic) 
stone,"  inscribed  with  the  mystic  "new  name,"  are 
promised  to  the  victor.  Christians  felt  that  theirs 
was  indeed  the  hidden  life,  into  which  they  had  been 
initiated  in  a  deeper  sense  than  that  afforded  by  their 
old  pagan  experience  ;  that  the  illumination  now  en- 
joyed far  surpassed  that  which  the  "  mysteries  "  pro- 
fessed to  give :  and  that  the  new  sacred  food  nour- 
ished their  souls  in  very  deed.  These  realities,  then, 
were  their  reward  for  foregoing  the  shadows  of  the 
old  religious  cults.  Yet  of  such  priceless  and  eter- 
nal privileges  they  had  need  to  be  oft  reminded. 
For  it  was  in  "  the  stress  and  endurance  in  Jesus," 
as  well  as  in  His  kingdom,  that  they  all  were  par- 
takers (i.  9).  "  If  we  endure  with  Him,  we  shall 
also  reign  with  Him,"  was  a  chant  needing  often  to 
be  on  lip  and  in  heart.  They  shared  His  death  ere 
they  shared  His  life  (2  Tim.  ii.  11,  12).  Yet  He  had 
passed  through  death  unscathed,  and  now  held  the 
keys  of  death  and  Hades  (i.  18,  ii.  8)  :  and  His  love, 
if  kept  warm  and  ever  fresh,  could  vanquish  all  fear 
and  the  weariness  of  well-doing  in  the  face  of  an  alien 
world. 

It  is  most  important  to  distinguish  in  the  Revelation 
things  already  past,  or  then  in  progress,  and  what  was 
only  imminent  to  the  seer's  vision.  The  surest  evi- 
dence for  the  former  are  the  Messages  to  the  Churches 
in  chapters  ii.-iii. ;  and  here  there  is,  as  yet,  no  sign 
of  the  death  penalty  for  refusing  Csesar-worship.  On 
the  other  hand  John  recognizes  the  last  hour  to  have 
begun,  which,  according  to  the  tradition  as  to  the 
Last  Things,  was  to  go  from  one  degree  of  darkness 


404  The  Apostolic  Age. 


to  another.  But  these  intenser  stages  of  trial  are 
only  anticipated  in  vision  forms,  borrowed  largely 
from  Daniel.  All  past  tenses  used  in  speaking  of 
the  blood  of  saints  are  relative  to  a  point  yet  future, 
in  so  far  as  they  do  not  refer  to  the  Neronian  mas- 
sacre or  to  the  general  bloodguiltiness  of  the  world- 
power  in  its  final  form  (Rome)  for  the  deeds  of  the 
same  power  in  its  prior  forms  {e.  g.,  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  as  regards  the  Maccabean  martyrs,  etc.). 
Hence  internal  grounds  for  a  date  late  in  Domitian's 
reign  disappear,  once  the  prophetic  standpoint  is 
grasped  aright.  To  John's  eye  the  moment  reached 
is  that  depicted  in  xii.  12,  where  the  devil  having 
been  vanquished  in  principle,  in  the  spiritual  realm, 
begins  to  manifest  his  wrath  in  the  visible  sphere  of 
human  society,  "knowing  that  his  time  is  short." 
He  tries  to  involve  the  Palestinian  Church  in  the 
ruin  of  the  Jewish  state,  and  then  turns  to  the 
spiritual  Israel  in  the  empire.  So  that  instead  of  c. 
95  A.  D.,  some  date  like  75-80  becomes  more  likely.1 
And  this  accords  well  with  the  internal  state2  of  the 

'Irenseus'  tradition  that  the  Apoc.  was  seeu  uuder  Doniitian 
is  easily  explained.  It  was  clear  that  Nero's  death  is  presupposed  : 
and  as  severe  persecution  did  not  begin  again  till  Doniitian,  it  was 
assumed  to  fall  in  his  day. 

2  Even  if  Zahn  be  right,  as  he  seems  to  be  (see  ii.  1  a,  and  the 
probable  play  on  the  proper  name  Zotikos,  "Lively,"  in  iii.  1  b), 
in  taking  the  "  angel  "  in  each  church  to  be  a  leading  human  per- 
sonage, this  still  holds  good.  For  the  position  of  this  "  church- 
deputy,"  as  we  may  perbaps  render  the  peculiar  Greek  (rw  ayyiXu) 
tw  iv  'Ef(au)  ^kXrjffta?),  is  purely  representative,  like  that  of 
the  Sheliach  Tsibbur  in  the  Jewish  synagogue,  i.  e.,  a  person  de- 
puted by  the  congregation,  acting  tbrough  its  elders,  to  perform  a 
certain  function  (apparently  ad  hoc)  in  public  worship,  such  as 


Date  of  the  Apocalypse.  405 

seven  churches,  particularly  the  Nicolaitanism  akin 
to  the  errors  combated  in  the  Epistle  of  Jude.  It 
also  brings  the  idea  of  the  "  seven  kings  "  of  Rome 
(xvii.  9  ff.)  into  line  with  the  similar  passage  in  Barn, 
iv.,  so  showing  that  the  suggestions  of  the  times  were 
the  same  to  minds  filled  with  the  Apocalyptic  system 
springing  from  Daniel.  We  saw  reason  to  place 
"  Barnabas  "  under  Vespasian,  and  probably  not  long 
after  70  A.  D.  Nor  need  we  put  Revelation  many 
years  later.  For  it  is  only  after  the  reign  under 
which  John  is  living,  and  after  the  brief  one  expected 
for  his  successor,  that  the  brutal  tendency  in  the  em- 
pire— resting  at  bottom  on  force  and  not  on  the 
Spirit — is  to  break  forth  in  "  the  beast  which  was  and 
is  not,"  i.  e.y  in  renewed  and  consummated  Nero- 
nian  ferocity.  Hence  John  is  living  under  Vespa- 
sian's relatively  beneficent  rule,  which  he  expects 
Titus  to  continue  for  a  time.  Yet  even  now  the 
stress  is  beginning. 

The  book  of  Revelation  was  sent  as  an  identical 
"  open  letter  "  to  seven  churches  in  the  province  of 
Asia  with  which  the  writer  had  special  relations. 
Its  aim  was  to  inspire  to  steadfastness  of  godly  living 
under  the  enhanced  trials  which  he  sees  to  overhang 
them  and  the  Brotherhood  in  the  world,  in  the  next 
few  years.     Beyond  this  horizon  it  has  no  more  sig- 

reading  or  prayer.  Thus  the  function  of  "  Keader  "  in  Rev.  i.  3 
(cf.  1  Tim.  iv.  13)  is  probably  the  particular  one  associated  with 
the  "angel,"  or  congregational  deputy,  in  John's  mind  when  ad- 
dressing his  writing  to  each  to  lay  before  the  church.  Hence  the 
church  is  really  addressed,  as  is  clear  from  the  collective  force  of 
the  "Thou"  in  several  contexts. 


406  The  Apostolic  Age. 

nificance  than  any  other  book  of  the  New  Testament : 
for  beyond  the  brief  last  distress  lay  to  the  writer's 
eye  only  the  Lord's  return  and  the  supernatural  era 
then  to  dawn,  and  beyond  that  the  Final  Judgment 
and  eternity.  Its  spiritual  principles  abide  under  all 
the  conditions  of  that  future  which  presented  itself 
to  him  foreshortened  by  the  traditional  forms  of 
Apocalyptic  thought :  but  its  actual  form  is  full  of 
the  limitations  of  time,  place,  and  pre-Christian 
tradition  as  to  the  last  crisis  in  human  history. 

Its  cryptic  form  is  even  partly  of  the  nature  of 
defensive  color,  since  this  "  epic  of  Christian  hope  " 
would  be  viewed  by  the  authorities  as  high  treason 
against  the  State.  Allowing  for  all  this,  it  was 
clearly  meant  to  be  understood  throughout  by  the 
hearers  as  it  came  from  the  lips  of  the  reader  in 
Christian  assemblies,  who  perhaps  acted  also  as  an 
interpreter  of  its  traditional  imagery.  Its  contents 
were  practical  in  the  main;  things  to  be  observed 
with  a  view  to  the  near  fulfilment  of  its  burden  (i. 
3,  xxii.  10  ff.).  In  this  it  is  like  all  other  apoca- 
lyptic known  to  us.  Indeed  hardly  any  book  in 
the  New  Testament  is  so  relative  to  the  age  that 
saw  its  birth,  and  less  looks  towards  or  is  adapted  to 
the  distant  future.  This  appears  not  only  in  its 
obscurity  to  the  plain  Christian  in  later  times,  owing 
to  its  temporary  allusions  and  its  symbolism,  but 
also  in  the  fact  that  the  Church  early  felt  doubt  as 
to  its  utility.  Its  value  had  once  been  great,  as  an 
aid  to  faith  in  a  very  dark  hour.  But  once  the 
Church  began  to  naturalize  itself  in  the  Empire 
and   do   its  work   as  leaven,  it  became   a   positive 


Its  Relative  Significance.  407 

danger  as  fostering  a  spirit  of  blind  hatred  to  the 
Roman  State  in  the  souls  of  would-be  Christian 
martyrs.  So  again  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  led,  espe- 
cially as  the  year  1000  drew  nigh,  to  much  wild  theo- 
rizing, on  the  assumption  that  it  was  a  book  of  literal 
oracles  about  times  and  seasons  centuries  after 
it  appeared  as  light  upon  "things  shortly  to  come 
to  pass."  And  so,  in  spite  of  the  courage  which  it 
has  lent  to  reformers  like  Savonarola,  its  effect  upon 
the  Church  has  been  of  doubtful  value.  For  it  has 
never  been  understood  since  its  own  day,  until  our 
own.  Now  we  are  recovering  the  key  to  it,  by  the 
historic  method  of  study  :  and  it  may  become  a 
means  of  good  and  nothing  but  good.  But  this  im- 
plies that  no  specific  references  to  events  yet  future 
must  be  imagined.  The  Christian  must  study  it  for 
analogies,  not  for  "  fulfilments." 

Was  it  ever  fulfilled  ?  Not  as  expected.  It  suf- 
fered from  the  mistaken  perspective  which  then 
marred  all  forecasts  as  to  the  "  Parousia."  Tradi- 
tional modes  of  thought  were  but  old  wine-skins, 
wherein  to  pour  the  new  wine  of  Christ's  Gospel. 
They  were,  it  is  true,  all  that  was  then  available. 
That  they  burst  under  the  pressure  of  the  larger  and 
more  expansive  truths  need  not  surprise  us.  It  was 
so  with  other  features  in  the  Messianic  expectation 
when  Jesus  came.  And  all  were  equally  fashioned 
on  the  older  precedents  under  which  the  progressive 
revelation  had  been  given.  In  every  case  the  moral  is 
the  same  :  the  new  wine  must  fashion  skins  to  its  own 
capacity — new  truths  of  the  spirit  finding  fresh  men- 
tal vehicles — under  the  gradual  teaching  of  Provi- 


/ 


408  The  Apostolic  Age. 

deuce.  For  God's  revelation  of  His  "  ways  and 
thoughts  "  in  His  New  Ecclesia  is  as  real  as  that  in 
the  history  of  the  Old.  Nor  need  this  compromise 
in  our  eyes  the  truths  of  the  Spirit  that  break 
through  the  first  forms  in  which  the  human  recip- 
ients strove  to  body  them  forth  in  imagination.  For 
it  was  not  so  with  those  inspired  Apostles,  whom  bit- 
ter experience  taught  their  own  human  limitations. 
Some  indeed,  who  had  little  of  the  new  life,  stumbled 
and  mocked.  But  the  Apostles  and  those  akin  to 
them  humbly  accepted  the  lessons  of  God's  dealings 
with  His  own  Kingdom.  Of  such  docility  the  writer 
of  the  Apocalypse  is  himself  a  notable  example. 
When  we  compare  his  later  writings,1  we  see  a 
growing  disentanglement  of  the  abiding  "  eternal 
life  "  from  the  changeful  forms  of  its  earthly  history. 
In  the  First  Epistle  of  John  Anti-Christ  is  a  spirit, 
active  not  so  much  in  the  State  as  in  false  doctrine : 
while  in  the  Johannine  Gospel  there  is  strictly  speak- 
ing no  eschatology.  There  the  vivid  present  experi- 
ence of  the  Lord's  return  in  the  Spirit  is  everything 
to  believers  (xvi.  17)  :  the  rest  is  left  to  the  Father 
and  His  good  time. 

1  This  progress  in  eschatology,  and  the  absence  of  reference  to  any 
Christological  error,  are  the  final  disproof  of  the  view  that  the  Apoc. 
falls  as  late  as  90-95.  Similarly  in  its  glowing  passion  against 
sinners  we  see  the  remains  of  the  Boanerges  temper,  and  in  fact 
of  Old  Testament  religion,  the  disciple  not  yet  being  "  perfected  " 
and  so  "as  his  Master"  in  the  yearning  of  Divine  Pity.  Yet 
John's  idea  of  religion,  "  the  eternal  Gospel  "  (xiv.  6)  implicit  in 
true  Judaism  and  explicit  in  "the  witness  of  Jesus,"  is  on  its 
way  to  that  message  of  "the  eternal  "  which  meets  us  in  the 
First  Epistle  and  the  Gospel.  If  we  place  the  Apocalypse  at  c.  75 
A.  D.,  and  these  other  some  ten  or  fifteen  years  later,  we  satisfy 
all  the  facts.    See  the  next  chapter  but  one. 


CHAPTER  IH. 

EMPIRE   VERSUS   CHURCH:   LUKE. 

ROM  the  time  when  Pauline  missions  be- 
gan to  react  by  their  success  upon  Chris- 
tian thought,  there  must  have  existed 
two  distinct  attitudes  of  mind  towards 
the  Empire  and  all  for  which  it  stood. 
We  have  already  seen  something  of  this  in  the  do- 
main of  apocalyptic.  There  the  Pauline  tendency 
was  to  see  in  the  law  and  order  of  the  Roman  State 
an  earthly  reflection  of  the  Divine  rule,  a  check 
upon  human  self-will  in  society  analogous  to  the 
diviner  discipline  of  the  Mosaic  Law  in  Israel. 
Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  viewed  the  Empire 
more  from  outside,  dwelt  on  its  brute  force  as 
thwarting  the  realization  of  God's  Kingdom  in  and 
through  His  chosen  People.  If  John  in  his  Apoca- 
lypse shared  the  latter  feeling,  the  former  lived  on 
in  one  of  Paul's  companions,  Luke,  the  author  of  the 
third  Gospel  and  its  sequel  the  Acts.  His  outlook 
upon  "  the  times  of  the  Gentiles,"  which  were  felt 
to  have  begun  in  a  special  sense  with  the  fall  of  the 
Jewish  State  in  70,  was  far  more  appreciative  than 
that  of  the  "  Son  of  Thunder."  John  came  fresh 
from  Palestine :  and  the  ungodly  side  of  the  Empire 
naturally  impressed  him  far  more  than  that  which 
appealed  to  men  brought  up  as  its  citizens  and  alive 
to  the  benefits  of  its  law  and  civilization.  In  this 
light  Luke's  two  books  will  repay  attention. 

409 


410  The  Apostolic  Age. 

As  to  the  form  of  Luke's  Gospel  and  the  Acts, 
we  observe  that  they  are  histories  in  a  sense  peculiar 
to  themselves  among  early  Christian  writings.  They 
have  a' genuine  historical  interest,  as  this  was  under- 
stood by  the  best  Greek  historians.  Their  author 
wished  not  only  to  edify  by  recording  facts  and  say- 
ings precious  to  faith,  but  also  to  do  this  in  an  or- 
dered form  that  should  do  justice  to  the  inner  con- 
nection of  the  events  as  they  actually  occurred,  and 
in  the  larger  context  of  the  world's  history.  To  this 
new  departure  in  gospel-writing  Luke  himself  calls 
attention  in  his  Preface,  comparing  his  work  with  its 
predecessors  in  point  of  completeness  and  accuracy 
of  information,  in  orderly  arrangement,  and  in  con- 
sequent power  to  carry  home  to  the  reader,  by  its 
very  form,  assurance  as  to  the  things  recorded.  Nor 
does  he  leave  us  in  doubt  as  to  the  type  of  reader  in 
view.  For  the  whole  work — Acts  being  included  in 
the  terms  of.  the  Preface  to  the  gospel — is  formally 
addressed  to  a  man  high  in  the  Imperial  provincial 
service,  as  it  seems,  who  had  already  been  through 
the  ordinary  course  of  oral  instruction  (catechesis)  as 
given  to  Christian  converts.  This  should  be  kept 
steadily  in  mind  as  a  factor  determining  the  perspec- 
tive of  the  narrative  in  a  writer  whose  artistic  power 
makes  him  always  master  of  his  materials,  whether 
as  to  omission,  insertion,  or  proportion.  To  quote 
the  words  of  Dr.  W.  M.  Ramsay : x  "it  is  plain  on  the 
face  of  Luke's  History,  that  he  has  taken  pains  to 
connect  his  narrative  with  the  general  history  of  the 

1  "Luke's  attitude  to  the  Roman  World,"  ch.  iii.  (p.  69)  of  the 
book  entitled,  Was  Christ  bom  at  Bethlehem  ? 


Practical  Aim  of  Lnke.  411 

empire,  and  that  he  has  noted  with  special  care  the 
relations  between  the  new  religion  and  the  Roman 
State  or  its  officials."  It  is  true  that  Luke  "  speaks 
of  things  Roman  as  they  appeared  to  a  Greek  "  ;  and 
that  his  interest  is  in  tracing  the  growth  of  the 
Grrcco-Roman,  i.  e.,  cosmopolitan,  element  in  the 
Church,  in  spite  of  Jewish  exclusiveness  and  rancor. 
But  he  seems  to  have  in  mind  men  of  more  Roman 
traditions  than  himself,  represented  by  "  Theophi- 
lus,"  who  had  probably  come  from  Rome  on  the  pro- 
consular staff.  For  he  devotes  much  space  in  both 
parts  of  his  work  to  the  mutual  relations  of  Chris- 
tians and  Roman  officials  in  the  earlier  days. 

In  this  Luke  fulfils  the  great  law  of  all  early 
Christian  literature.  His  aim  is  a  practical  one. 
The  life  was  so  absorbing  that  really  literary  products 
were  exceptional  and  the  result  of  necessity.  Here 
the  occasion  lay  in  the  change  in  the  attitude  of  the 
empire  to  the  Christians  hinted  in  our  last  chapter, 
and  which  probably  began  as  soon  as  Vespasian's 
spirit  came  fully  into  effect.  With  him  began  the 
irony  of  the  Christians'  lot,  namely  that  the  best 
rulers  proved  persecutors.  The  reason  is  simple  in 
the  light  of  what  we  knew  of  Roman  political  prin- 
ciple. The  public  welfare,  whether  as  bound  up 
with  due  worship  to  the  gods  of  the  state,  or  as 
menaced  by  all  that  ran  in  the  face  of  the  established 
order  of  society  or  tended  to  produce  local  tumult, 
was  from  the  first  affected  by  the  rise  of  Christianity. 
For  the  Church  the  law  of  God  was  superior  to  the 
law  of  the  State  and  had  a  prior  claim  to  obedience. 


412  The  Apostolic  Age. 

To  Roman  religion,1  which  was  at  the  bottom  a 
means  to  the  safety  of  the  State,  such  a  conception 
was  folly  or  treason.  Salus  reipublicce  summa  lex. 
To  refuse  conformity  to  the  State  cult  was  sacrilege 
and  constructive  treason:  at  least  it  was  criminal 
obstinacy  (obstinatio).  Conflict  was  inevitable  :  an 
inherent  contrariety  of  principle  underlay  the  two 
societies.  The  Church  was  "an  empire  within  an 
empire." 

At  first  neither  side  realized  this  ;  each  understood 
too  little  of  the  other's  root-ideas.  But  as  Chris- 
tians ceased  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  variety  of 
Judaism,  which  enjoyed  a  position  of  special  tolera- 
tion— not  unmingled  with  contempt — they  became 
so  far  suspect  in  the  eyes  of  the  State.  Paul's  trial 
at  Rome  and  the  legal  hearings  which  preceded 
Nero's  atrocities  toward  the  Christians  in  autumn 
64,  served  no  doubt  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  central 
authorities  to  the  extent  of  the  divergence  in  princi- 
ples.2 Thenceforth  the  Christians  were  in  constant 
jeopardy  even  in  the  provinces.  Governors  had  dis- 
cretionary powers,3  in  the  interests  of  "law  and 
order,"  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  repress  Chris- 

1  Public  worship  is  here  in  question.  It  was  allowable  to  sup- 
plement this  with  voluntary  devotion  to  any  number  of  cults  that 
were  licensed  by  the  state  (religionee  Hcitx),  formally  or  tacitly,  as 
not  inimical  to  morals  or  public  order. 

'Tacitus  implies  that  Christian  aloofness  of  spirit  from  the  ac- 
tual course  of  society  (as  doomed  to  destruction)  was  already  con- 
strued as  "hostility  to  mankind"  (odium  generis  humani)  and 
judged  accordingly. 

3  "To  search  out  and  punish  sacrilegious  persons  "  and  other 
"  enemies  of  society  "  (hosles  jmblici). 


Christians  and  the  Courts.  413 

tianity  wherever  it  seemed  worth  the  trouble  and  the 
risk  of  local  excitement.  It  only  needed  the  em- 
peror's nod  to  put  this  machinery  into  general  exer- 
cise:  and  the  nod  might  be  given  by  his  initiation  of 
a  generally  vigorous  administrative  policy,  rather 
than  by  any  specific  instructions  or  by  his  own  ex- 
ample in  Rome  itself.  Now  we  know  that  Ves- 
pasian's reign  did  mean  a  bracing  of  the  administra- 
tive system.  Further,  his  son  Titus,  the  hero  of  the 
Jewish  War,  is  said  to  have  felt  that  Christianity  and 
Judaism  had  in  them  the  same  root  of  revolt  against 
the  principles  of  Roman  rule.  Accordingly  all  points 
to  the  likelihood  that  persecution,  such  as  we  saw  in 
the  case  of  John  and  the  churches  of  the  Apocalypse, 
arose  not  long  after  70  A.  D.,  at  least  in  some  places. 
For  local  public  feeling,  even  where  only  a  section 
of  it  was  involved  (e.  g.,  the  Jews,  or  those  interested 
in  any  given  pagan  cult),  had  much  to  do  with  bring- 
ing Christians  to  the  notice  of  the  magistrate,  who 
then  was  obliged  to  move  in  the  matter. 

Once  a  Christian  was  charged  in  this  way,  it  was 
not  enough  to  clear  himself  of  the  specific  crimes 
(flagitia)  popularly  attributed  to  this  "aloof"  and 
"  inhuman  "  sect ; '  he  had  to  prove  himself  loyal  to 

1  Modern  mission  dry  experience  may  illustrate  this  feeling  as  to 
the  "  uuneighborliuess  "  of  Christian  abstention  on  many  social 
occasions.  ''To  neglect  the  evening  incense,  the  periodical  of- 
ferings to  household  or  local  deities  ;  to  cease  worshipping  the 
dead  ;  to  refuse  contributions  towards  idolatrous  processions  or 
festivals — in  short  to  become  a  Christian  aud  abandon  the  heathen 
practices  which  permeate  every  department  of  life,  is  to  raise  a 
storm  of  indignation  aud  persecution  that  frequently  involves  a 
whole  family  in  utter  ruin  ■  (from  a  Chinese  missionary's  letter). 


414  The  Apostolic  Age. 

the  Empire  and  its  religion  by  an  act  of  sacrifice, 
generally  before  an  image  of  the  emperor.  To  be 
convicted,  then,  of  the  Christian  "  Name  "  and  to 
refuse  to  clear  oneself,  as  indicated,  was  in  itself  to 
be  liable  to  death — though  the  extreme  penalty  was 
probably  seldom  exacted  before  the  end  of  Domi- 
tian's  reign  (81-96).  Hence  persecution  was  ever 
and  anon  breaking  out  through  the  initiative  of  in- 
dividuals or  of  popular  outcry(as  at  Ephesus  in  Paul's 
day),  or  even  of  magisterial  zeal.  But  it  was  not 
yet  systematic.  It  had  thus  all  the  more  appearance 
of  being  arbitrary  and  due  to  causes  which  could  be 
removed  by  explanations. 

It  was  natural  for  a  Christian  to  think  that 
apology  could  take  no  more  cogent  form  than  that 
of  an  appeal  to  the  happier  relations  of  former  days. 
Roman  administration  was  marked  by  great  con- 
tinuity ;  but  here  was  an  apparent  exception  to  the 
rule.  It  was  with  this  feeling  in  his  mind  that  Luke 
wrote  his  gospel  and  especially  his  history  of  the  ear- 
lier Apostolic  Age  down  to  about  60  A.D.  Thus  these 
were  not  only  historical  memoirs,  such  as  a  man  of 
Grseco-Roman  culture  could  appreciate  and  feel  at 
home  with.  They  also  embody  "  an  appeal  to  the 
truth  of  history  against  the  immoral  and  ruinous 
policy  of  the  reigning  emperor,  a  temperate  and 
solemn  record  by  one  who  had  played  a  great  part 
in  them  of  the  real  facts  regarding  the  formation  of 
the  Church,  its  steady  and  unswerving  loyalty  in  the 
past,  its  resolve  to  accept  the  existing  Imperial  gov- 
ernment, its  friendly  reception  by  many  Romans." 

It  is  easiest  to  suppose  that  such  an  appeal  would 


The  Case  of  Flavins  Clemens.  415 

be  evoked  in  the  early  years  of  the  newer  policy  or 
practice,  making  its  protest  in  its  own  way  and  in 
another  spirit,  but  about  the  same  time  as  John's 
apocalypse,  i.  e.,  about  75  A.  D.  As  to  place,  several 
lines  of  evidence  converge  on  Antioch.  As  to  its 
effect  in  the  direction  Luke  probably  had  in  view,  in 
formally  dedicating  it  to  a  high  Roman  official l 
whom  he  styles  "  your  excellency,"  we  know  noth- 
ing. But  no  doubt  it  passed  through  this  medium 
into  certain  official  circles,  as  a  statement  of  the 
Christian  case ;  and  it  can  hardly  have  failed  to 
make  some  impression  even  in  those  quarters.  It  is 
suggestive  in  this  connection  to  recall  the  case  of 
Flavius  Clemens,  cousin  of  Domitian  and  consul  in 
95  A.  D.,  who,  along  with  another  ex-consul, Acilius 
Glabrio,and  apparently  a  number  of  Romans  of  posi- 
tion and  property,  was  tried  by  the  emperor  for 
sacrilege  and  put  to  death.  Circumstantial  evidence 
points  clearly  to  Christianity  as  having  been  part  of 
the  charge,  which  in  general  amounted  to  treason 
against  the  now  morbidly  suspicious  emperor.  This 
is  clearest  as  regards  Clemens,2  the  "  utterly  con- 
temptible indolence  "  of  whose,  mode  of  life,  as  Sue- 
tonius esteemed  it,  was  probably  due  to  his  desire  to 
minimize  compliance  with  the  pagan  rites  in  which 

■As  "  Theophilus  "  means  "  Friend  of  God,"  and  as  it  would 
jeopardize  a  high-placed  person  to  name  him  in  a  Christian  book, 
we  may  infer  that  this  was  not  his  real  name  ;  and  therewith  we 
are  free  to  regard  him  as  a  Roman  rather  than  a  Greek. 

2  Especially  on  account  of  the  clear  Christianity  of  his  wife 
Domitilla  banished  on  the  same  occasion,  whose  catacomb  has 
been  discovered  in  recent  times.  Similar,  though  slighter,  evi- 
dence supports  the  view  that  Glabrio  was  also  a  Christian. 


416  The  Aiiostolic  Age. 

public  officials  had  to  take  part.  Perhaps  some  of 
the  above  had  felt  the  influence  of  Luke's  work,1 
brought  to  their  notice  by  "  Theophilus,"  who  may 
even  himself  have  been  among-   Domitian's  victims. 

A  word  or  two  may  be  added  on  other  features  of 
Luke's  books  as  indicative  of  the  type  of  piety  of  the 
circle  in  which  they  were  written.  We  havo  seen 
how  Matthew,  as  compared  with  Mark,  has  a  per- 
spective of  its  own  which  roveals  the  needs  of  its 
readers  and  tho  religious  ideals  of  its  author.  So 
is  it  with  Luke.  It  is  the  broadly  human  and  hu 
mane  gospel.  It  sets  forth  .Jesus  as  the  Saviour  of 
true  humanity  from  all  snares  and  bondages.  Luke 
felt  acutely  the  dualism  of  life,  the  life  of  self  and 
sin,  the  life  of  love  to  God  and  man.  The  sympa- 
thetic physician  looked  out  with  pitying  eye  on  tho 
bondage  to  evil,  both  moral  and  physical,  under  which 
humanity  groaned.  And  of  the  snares  by  which 
mankind  was  lured  to  its  ruin,  nono  seemed  to  him 
more  potent  that  the  worldly  desires  bound  up  with 
riches  and  the  pursuit  of  them.  This  side  of  Christ's 
own  teaching  had  come  under  his  notice  in  a  spe- 
cially emphatic  form  in  one  of  Ins  sources.  Luke 
lias  preserved  it  and  made  it  a  prime  feature  of  his 
own  gospel. 

Over  against  the  tyranny  of  the  forces  of  ill,  Luke 
places  in  strong  relief  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
connecting  all  salvation  with  His  agency  ("  power  of 
the  (Holy)  Spirit,"  or  simply  "holy  spirit").  And 
so  he  is  led  to  give  prominence  to  "the  Apostles," 
as  the  prime  media  of  the  Spirit  whereby  Jesus' 
1  Acta  Heeiua  to  have  been  read  in  Koine  C.  i'5 ;  we  p.  415. 


ministry  bad  continued  being  (Ad        1-8).    Tbii 

ibviooj   in   Acts  ;  hut.  it  i  teri 

his  gospel,  in  which  the  feeling  of  bis  own  day  to- 
wards the  beroet  oi  the  Acta  throws  bacli  a  certain 
glory  on  their  earlier  state  of  training.     And  in  this 
light  be  felt  it.  unbecoming,  for  instance 
the  ambitions  request  of  the  bods  of  Z 

This  gospel,  then,  may  justly  be  called  the  y. 
for  man  as  man;  setting  forth,  not  so  much  Israel's 
Messiah,  as  the  Son  of  Man,  in  whom  all  "men  of 
good  will,"  Greek  and  Roman  as  well  as  Jew,  i 
finding  and  should  further  find  the  birthright  oi  bu> 
manity,  sonship  to  God. 

A  A 


CHAPTER  IV. 

»  The  Churches  of  Asia"  c.  80-90  A.  D. 

HE  two  little  epistles  known  as  Second 
and  Third  John  are  for  the  historian 
among  the  most  precious  documents  of 
the  Apostolic  Age.  Their  unique  value 
lies  in  this,  that  they  open  up  a  window 
into  church  life  in  provincial  Asia  c.  80-90  A.  D., 
through  which  we  can  see  the  way  in  which  doctrine 
and  organization  were  developing.  As  regards  ex- 
ternal conditions,  the  covert  style1  of  address  (a 
church  being  "  a  lady,"  and  its  members  her  "  chil- 
dren " :  so,  the  writer's  "children")  points  to  the 
dangers  menacing  the  Christian  name,  the  sequel  of 
those  hinted  in  the  messages  to  the  Churches  in  Rev. 
ii.,  iii.  But  even  this  could  not  prevent  the  work- 
ings of  the  corporate  life  of  the  Brotherhood.  John 
in  particular  looked  out  from  Ephesus  with  solicit- 
ous love  upon  all  the  Asian  communities,  in  which 
he  could  reckon  many  spiritual  children. 

The  situation  comes  out  clearly  in  the  second  of 
the  two  letters  in  question.     It  is  addressed  to  a 

1  This  has  a  bearing  on  the  title  "  the  Elder  "  by  which  the 
Apostle  styles  himself,  according  to  a  usage  found  also  in  1  Pet. 
v.  1,  in  the  sense  of  the  Senior :  compare  Papias'  use  of  the  term 
for  "  the  Fathers  "  of  an  older  time. 

418 


Second  and  Third  John.  419 

member  of  some  influence,  perhaps  one  of  the  local 
elders,  and  is  in  form  mainly  a  letter  of  introduction 
for  certain  brethren  of  John's  circle  about  to  pass 
that  way  on  an  evangelistic  mission  to  regions  be- 
yond. First  comes  an  adapted  form  of  the  stereo- 
typed opening  of  ancient  letters,  wishing  prosperity 
and  health  ;  and  then  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  wit- 
ness to  Gaius'  faithful  walk  borne  in  church-meeting 
by  brethren  whom  he  had  entertained  on  their  return 
journey  from  some  similar  mission.  Such  cases  of 
devotion  to  the  truth  are  the  writer's  chief  ground  of 
gratitude  to  God.  Such  deeds  are  not  in  vain.  Let 
Gaius  repeat  his  kindness  by  furthering  the  brethren 
once  more  on  their  path  of  labor  among  the  heathen, 
to  whom  they  wished  the  more  to  commend  the  Name 
by  not  taking  aught  from  them.  So  could  he  be 
partner  with  the  Truth. 

John  has  been  obliged  to  write  to  Gaius  individ- 
ually. For  though  he  is  sending  a  letter  also  to  the 
church,  which,  in  the  person  of  its  chief  representa- 
tive, its  pastor  or  bishop,  ought  to  show  official  hos- 
pitality to  stranger  brethren ;  yet  the  Apostle's  ex- 
perience of  this  man's  attitude  forbids  the  hope  that 
Diotrephes  will  receive  any  belonging  to  his  circle. 
On  a  former  occasion  he  had  used  ill  words  of  John 
and  his  associates,  denying  their  friends  the  church's 
hospitality,  an4  trying  even  to  binder  the  brethren 
from  offering  it  individually  by  the  threat  of  expul- 
sion. So  much  said,  the  letter  returns  to  its  original 
purpose,  accrediting  Demetrius  its  bearer  and  prob- 
ably one  of  the  missionary  party.  It  adds  that  the 
Apostle  hopes  to  come  himself  ere  long  and  say  more 


420  The  Apostolic  Age. 

face  to  face ;  sends  greetings  to  Gains  from  "  the 
friends " ;  and  bids  him  convey  the  like  to  "  the 
friends  "  of  his  own  circle.  This  use  of  "  the  friends  " 
is  probably  due  to  the  special  sympathy  between  one 
group  of  Gaius'  fellow-members  and  John's  circle. 
Indeed  Gains  himself  seems  to  owe  his  new  life  to 
the  Apostle. 

As  to  the  letter  to  the  church,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  2  John  is  the  actual  epistle  referred  to 
in  3  John  9.  The  more  personal  letter  must  owe 
its  preservation  (where  so  many  others  have  perished) 
to  its  close  connection  with  the  more  public  one. 
The  style,  moreover,  and  phraseology  of  the  let- 
ters are  so  similar  that  they  must  have  been  written 
almost  at  a  sitting.  And  so  we  are  able  to  read 
farther  into  the  situation.  The  teaching  known  to 
us  through  1  John  had  already  reached  this  congre- 
gation. Diotrephes,  its  chief  pastor,  who  was  evi- 
dently inclined  at  least  to  tolerate  the  interpretation 
of  Christianity  there  denounced,  felt  that  the  issue 
was  being  definitely  raised :  that  he  and  his  church 
must  either  fall  into  line  with  the  Truth  as  expounded 
by  John  and  his  brother  eyewitnesses,  or  assert  the 
right  to  judge  for  themselves  on  such  points  and 
welcome  as  brethren  whom  they  would.  In. this  view 
he  had  the  approval  of  a  large  part  of  the  local 
church.  Yet  the  majority  were  not  so  committed  to 
his  policy  of  repudiating  the  testimony  of  surviving 
disciples  of  Christ,  as  to  leave  John  without  good 
hope  that  a  personal  visit  might  bring  the  church  to 
recognize  the  Truth  as  he  held  it  and,  if  necessary, 
to    repudiate    their   chief  office-bearer,   Diotrephes. 


False  "  Progress  "    Condemned.  421 

For,  after  all,  it  was  a  matter  of  fact,  resting  on  "  tes- 
timony " — a  favorite  idea  of  John's.  And  here  he 
feels  that  his  personal  presence  will  turn  the  scale. 

His  letter  to  the  church,  then,  like  Paul's  second 
epistle  to  Corinth,  was  written  as  a  feeler,  to  prepare 
men's  minds  by  a  definite  appeal  to  the  authority  of 
the  original  "  Teaching "  by  which  they  had  been 
quickened  to  newness  of  life.  He  reminds  them  that 
he  is  making  no  new  demand  on  their  faith,  but  is 
simply  setting  forth  the  old  message  and  its  practical 
obligations.  They  had  built  their  lives,  so  far,  on 
"Jesus  Christ  as  one  coming  (i.  e.,  come)  in  the 
flesh,"  one  with  a  veritable  humanity,  whereby  hu- 
manity as  such — as  it  existed  in  them  and  in  all  men 
— had  been  sanctified  and  put  potentially  into  new 
and  filial  relations  to  the  Father.  Let  them  not  sac- 
rifice what  they  had  already  built  on  this  foundation, 
by  "advancing"  to  a  novel  theory  of  His  person  and 
so  of  His  significance  for  human  life.  Such  "pro- 
gress "  was  really  retrogression :  it  was  not  an  abiding 
by  the  original  root,  "  the  teaching  of  the  Christ " 
Himself,  and  so  gave  no  guarantee  of  a  true  posses- 
sion of  God.  It  was  really  a  rival  Christ  that  was 
being  offered  by  those  who  had  left  the  original 
Christian  basis  of  communion  and  "  gone  out  into 
the  world  "  as  deceivers.  Let  them  have  no  fellow- 
ship with  such ;  for  they  were  in  effect  serving,  not 
Christ,  but  Antichrist. 

The  letter  does  not  say  that  many  in  this  church 
were  inclined  to  such  breach  with  the  historic  realities 
witnessed  by  himself  and  others ;  its  aim  is  to  give 
all  a  full  chance  to  dissociate  themselves  from  the 


422  The  Apostolic  Age: 

tendency  described.  As  to  Diotrephes  himself,  he 
was  probably  more  or  less  in  sympathy  with  the  new 
doctrine,  and  may  even  have  given  to  teachers  of  it 
the  friendly  reception  he  now  refused  to  those  of  the 
Johannine  type.  But  it  seems  that  his  self-love  and 
official  pride  were  more  in  question  than  his  own  doc- 
trine, as  to  which  the  Apostle  makes  no  specific  charge. 
He  wanted  to  assert  his  official  authority  unmistak- 
ably and  not  appear  to  accept  dictation  from  outside, 
even  when  coming  from  apostolic  men.  Such  is  the 
force  of  the  epithet  "  he  who  loveth  to  play  the  lead- 
ing part."  He,  as  the  church's  chief  official,  wished 
to  magnify  himself  in  magnifying  his  office.  He  tried 
to  persuade  the  church  that  its  autonomy  was  being 
menaced ;  whereas  what  was  at  stake  was  its  very 
Christian  being  as  originally  founded — to  which  all 
autonomy  was  relative.  This  is  the  Apostle's  sole 
interest :  and  he  is  sure  that  once  the  historic  basis  of 
the  Truth  is  made  plain  to  the  church,  they  will  de- 
cide against  the  specious  self-assertion  of  their  own 
bishop.  For  a  bishop,  in  the  later  sense  of  chief 
local  pastor,  he  was  in  function,1  though  probably 
not  yet  with  that  distinctness  from  his  colleagues  in 
the  eldership  which  marks  the  Asian  bishops  referred 
to  in  the  letters  of  Ignatius  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later.  His  masterful  spirit  had  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  some  of  his  colleagues  and  on  the  church  as 
a  whole  :  and  this  in  itself  is  a  notable  fact  in  view 
of  the  weight  of  external  moral  authority  arrayed 

1  Thus  he  has  the  chief  voice  in  the  question  of  expulsion  from 
the  Church's  fellowship,  though  it  cannot  take  effect  apart  from 
the  consent  of  the  whole  church,  including  its  elders. 


First  John.  423 

against  him.  But  there  were  those  who  demurred, 
and  notably  Gaius.  Such  held  to  the  Truth  as  set 
forth  in  1  John  (2  John  4  ;  3  John  3  f.),  and  so  felt 
full  Christian  love  for  brethren  on  their  way  to  ex- 
tend it  to  fresh  fields. 

It  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  general  epistle  known 
as  1  John  came  before  or  after  the  two  smaller  let- 
ters. In  any  case  it  belongs  to  the  same  crisis  in  the 
history  of  the  Asian  Churches  and  implies  like  condi- 
tions. Already  its  opening  will  seem  less  enigmatic. 
The  danger  of  the  hour  was  the  loss  of  the  historic 
basis  of  fact  touching  Christ,  to  which  it  was  the 
prime  function  of  Apostles  to  witness.  Hence  the 
stress  of  the  opening  words  lies  on  what  had  once 
been  matter  of  experience  to  personal  disciples  as 
regards  the  manifested  Life.  This  the  writer  styles 
"the  word"  or  message  "of  life."  This  he  and 
those  associated  with  him  Avere  anxious  to  transmit 
in  unimpaired  fulness  to  others,  to  whom  it  came 
only  indirectly — not  by  the  direct  witness  of  eye, 
ear,  and  hand — yet  so  as  to  authenticate  itself 
in  spiritual  experience,  if  only  the}r  submitted  their 
lives  to  its  sway.  Such  experimental  realization  is 
the  writer's  great  desire1  for  his  "children."  Only, 
the  Truth  itself  must  be  received  as  something 
grounded  in  a  real  human  life,  the  Divine  and  hu- 
man having  been  perfectly  united  in  a  religious 
unity  effective  for  the  regeneration  and  perfecting  of 
man.     Humanity  had,  as  it  were,  gained  a  new  root, 

1  "His  Pastoral  is  not  a  dogmatic  exposition  of  truth,  but  an 
application  of  the  Truth  to  life  "  (Westcott,  ad  loc). 


424  The  Apostolic  Age. 

that  of  the  Divine  filial  life.  And  the  vital  energies 
latent  therein,  and  realizable  through  the  Spirit,  as- 
sured the  victory  of  faith  over  sin  and  ail  world-forces 
working  in  rivalry  to  God,  the  self-hood  of  the  in- 
dividual and  of  society.  But  on  one  condition  :  that 
the  root  was  really  what  it  professed  to  be,  both  Di- 
vine and  human,  and  no  mere  sublimated  or  blood- 
less life  that  had  never  known  the  strain  and  stress 
of  our  weak  mortality.  The  life  must  have  been 
manifested  in  the  flesh. 

To  deny  this  was  to  strike  the  most  deadly  blow 
at  the  heart  of  the  gospel  as  the  power  of  God  unto 
man's  salvation :  it  was  to  substitute  another  Christ 
for  Him  who  had  actually  appeared :  it  was  the  very 
spirit  of  false  prophecy,  nay  of  Antichrist.  The  be- 
setting mental  tendency  of  those  regions  was  to- 
wards an  ultra-spiritualism  rooted  in  a  prejudice 
against  corporeal  life  as  such,  as  if  the  Divine 
had  or  could  have  no  direct  relations  therewith. 
To  such  thought  Christ  could  be  Divine  only  by 
having  nothing  to  do  with  our  flesh.  However 
His  apparently  incarnate  life  was  to  be  explained, 
His  having  "  come  in  flesh  "  could  not  be  admitted. 
This  forced  its  adherents  to  deny  certain  cardinal 
evangelic  facts,  and  notably  the  Passion  of  Christ  on 
the  Cross  as  reality  and  not  mere  semblance  (v.  6). 
Such  a  challenge  surviving  disciples  were  bound  to 
take  up.  They  issued  a  manifesto  opposing  to 
theory,  based  simply  on  speculative  prejudice,  the 
reality  of  facts  vouched  for  by  eyewitnesses,  the  orig- 
inal preachers  of  "  the  word  "  that  had  called  the 
churches  into  being.     In  this  spirit  and  under  these 


Relations  ivith  the  Asian  Churches.  425 


conditions  the  Apostolic  pastoral  declares :  "  We  are 
of  God  :  he  who  hath  true  knowledge  of  God  heareth 
us,  he  that  is  not  of  God  heareth  us  not.  Hereby 
we  discern  the  spirit  of  the  Truth  and  the  spirit  of 
Error."  It  is  not  a  question  of  Apostolic  theory 
against  newer  theory  :  it  is  one  of  Apostolic  witness 
to  fact,  as  against  novel  theories  which  rest  on  denial 
or  ignoring  of  such  fact. 

And  now  we  perceive  the  force  of  the  first  person 
plural  in  which  the  address  is  cast,  and  which  alter- 
nates with  the  first  person  singular  throughout. 
The  witness  is  not  merely  that  of  one  Apostle  how- 
ever eminent,  but  of  all  Apostles  and  personal  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  in  those  regions,  concentrated  for  the 
time  about  John  at  Ephesus.  Still  the  writer's  own 
personal  relations  with  the  Asian  Churches  come  out 
clearly.  They  are  spiritually  his  "  little  children," 
even  those  "  seniors  "  whom  he  addresses  in  contrast 
to  the  "juniors  (ii.  13  ff.)."  The  Truth  is  appre- 
hended on  different  sides  and  at  varying  depths  as 
life  wears  on.  Yet  all  revealed  Truth  is  there  from 
the  first  in  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ,  the  specific 
form  in  which  the  Father  has  been  pleased  to  reveal 
His  Fatherhood,  that  men  may  walk  with  Him  in 
the  light  as  His  dutiful  and  loving  sons.  But  all  is 
vitally  or  religiously  conceived.  Men  cannot "  know  " 
the  Truth,  as  John  views  it,  and  not  "  do  "  or  "  walk 
in  "  it. 

Thus  it  is  vain  and  false  to  say,  as  some  do, i  "  we 

1  The  Epistle  quotes  a  number  of  phrases  used  by  those  who 
taugbt  erroneously  in  a  perverted  sense  of  their  own.  They 
mostly  come  from  Paul  or  from  John  himself  (recurring  in  his 


426  The  Apostolic  Age. 

enjoy  fellowship  with  God,"  while  walking  in  the 
darkness  of  a  divided  life,  seeing  God's  truth  with- 
out doing  it.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  walk  with  our 
whole  being  in  the  Light  of  Love  wherein  God  hath 
His  moral  being  (of.  Matt.  v.  44  f.,  48),  then  indeed 
we  have  fellowship  with  the  eternal  God  Himself,  a 
fellowship  from  which  the  blood  of  Jesus  His  Son 
removes  all  taint  of  sin.  For  let  us  not  deceive  our- 
selves with  the  thought  that "  we  have  nothing  to  do 
with  sin,"  that  we  have  already  got,  once  and  for 
all,  beyond  its  reach.  Rather,  if  and  whenever  our 
conscience  is  shadowed  with  any  sin,  let  us  rely  on 
God's  fidelity  to  the  revelation  of  Himself  in  His 
Son,  and  humbly  accept  forgiveness  and  cleansing  at 
His  hands.  For  He  has  provided  a  Surety  in  rela- 
tion to  human  sins,  a  Propitiation,  One  in  whom 
as  sinless  victor  over  sin  all  sins  are  virtually  an- 
nulled (i.  9.,  ii.  1  f.,  iii.  5,  iv.  10  ;  John  iii.  16). 
All  who  penitently  approach  the  Father  through  this 
Patron  or  Advocate  against  accusing  sins,  can  count 
on  the  restored  light  of  His  countenance.  But  if 
we  go  still  further  and  say,  "We  have  never 
sinned,"  we  make  Him  out  false— since  He  has  re- 
vealed Himself  as  a  redeeming  God — and  so  show 
that  we  have  not  His  word  of  revelation  in  us  at  all. 

gospel).  Such  are,  to  "  be  in  the  Light"  (ii.  9).  to  "  know  God" 
(ii.  3),  "to  abide  in  God"  (iv.  16,  13),  "to  abide  in  Him" 
(Christ,  ii.  6,  28,  iii.  24),  "to  be  of  the  Truth"  (iii.  19),  "to  love 
God  "  (iv.  20  f.,  v.  3).  One  sees  at  once  how  these  lend  them- 
selves to  a  merely  intellectual  acceptation,  against  which  John 
strives  when  he  emphasizes  conduct  or  "  walk  "  as  the  test  that 
God  possesses  the  whole  man — the  only  salvation  that  he  will 
acknowledge. 


The  New  Commandment.  427 

Yet  while  none  is  impeccable,  sin  is  no  dire  neces- 
sity. John's  very  object  in  writing  is  to  teach  the 
secret  of  exemption  from  sin.  To  abide  in  Him  is 
to  overcome  sin.  There  is  infinite  power  in  the 
virtual  bearing  away  of  sin  by  the  sinless  Lamb  (iii. 
5  f. ;  John  i.  29).  Hence  knowledge,  real  knowl- 
edge, of  Him  is  to  be  gauged  by  keeping  of  His  com- 
mandments (ii.  3 ;  John  xiv.  21,  24).  Obedience 
means  consummated  love  of  God  and  assurance  of 
being  or  abiding  in  Him  (ii.  5  f.). 

In  so  writing,  John  is  anxious  to  make  it  clear 
that  he  is  adding  nothing  to  the  message  brought  to 
them  when  first  they  heard  the  gospel  through  the 
Pauline  Mission  in  those  regions.  And  yet  the 
"  commandment"  was  new  in  this  sense,  that  it  now 
came  in  fresh  fulness  of  meaning,  a  meaning  ever 
true  of  Him  and  potentially  true  of  them.  It  comes 
afresh  because  they  are  now  attaining  maturity:  twi- 
light is  broadening  into  full  daylight :  "  the  darkness 
is  passing,  and  the  Light  in  all  its  reality  is  already 
shining."  In  this  clearer  light  they  can  now  see 
that  to  think  oneself  "in  the  light"  and  at  the  same 
time  to  hate  one's  brother,  is  to  be  still  in  the  dark ; 
whereas  to  love  one's  brother  is  to  abide  in  the  light 
and  be  free  from  all  offence  (ii.  7-11).  He  writes, 
then,  to  his  "dear  children,"  just  because  their  sins 
have  been  forgiven  for  His  name's  sake,  and  the 
seniors  among  them  have  come  to  know  "  Him  that 
is  from  the  beginning,"  while  the  juniors  have  "van- 
quished the  wicked  one."  Let  each  and  all  beware 
of  loving  the  world  of  sense  and  the  things  in  it  that 
beguile ;    for  love   of  that  world   and   love    of  the 


428  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Father  are  incompatible.  Fleshly  desire,  the  covet- 
ous eye,  and  the  self-assertiveness  of  life,  are  not  the 
Father's  but  the  world's.  The  world  and  its  desire 
are  transitory ;  eternity  belongs  only  to  him  that 
doth  God's  will  (ii.  12-17). 

So  far  we  find  little  that  is  not  common  to  the  lot 
of  human  nature  in  all  times  and  places.  Yet  the 
emphasis  on  the  historical  manhood  of  the  Divine 
Life  made  manifest,  and  on  the  Passion  of  Jesus  the 
Son  of  God  as  the  condition  of  human  cleansing 
from  sin,  is  striking.  The  secret  of  these  allusions 
comes  to  light  in  what  follows.  The  times  were  in 
fact  critical.  It  was  the  "  last  hour."  The  spirit  of 
Antichrist  was  active,  and  there  were  many  "  anti- 
christs "  abroad.  They  had  gone  forth  from  the  Chris- 
tian camp,  showing  that  they  had  never  shared  its  life. 
They  had  simply  made  manifest  their  inner  mind. 
They  had  never  broken  with  their  old  prejudices 
of  thought  or  practice  and  really  adopted  the  idea  of 
religion  involved  in  the  message,  namely  that  it  was 
a  thing  of  life,  a  spirit  akin  to  the  holy  love  of  Jesus. 
In  such  a  spirit  all  true  Christians  shared,  "an 
unction  from  the  Holy  One  "  whereby  they  knew  in 
germ  all  things  needful.  The  error  which  now  con- 
fronted them  was  a  denial  that  Jesus  was  himself 
the  Christ.  So  to  say  was  to  cut  at  the  root  of 
Divine  Fatherhood  and  Sonship  as  believed  among 
them.  It  was  through  the  Son,  taken  frankly  as  He 
appeared,  namely  as  really  manifest  in  flesh  in  the 
humanity  of  Jesus,  that  the  Father  was  really 
known ;  and  only  so.  If,  as  they  were  sure,  Jesus 
was  righteous,  then  only  they  who  do  righteousness 


Erroneous   Christology.  429 

can  claim  to  have  been  begotten  of  Him.  In  so  end- 
ing this  section,  John  hints  that  the  tendency  of  the 
erroneous  view  of  Christ's  person  already  alluded 
to,  was  to  loosen  the  bond  between  creed  and  con- 
duct.    How  was  this? 

The  next  chapter  gives  no  clue,  since  it  resumes 
the  positive  doctrine  of  love  as  the  mark  of  the 
brethren  in  contrast  to  the  world,  whose  hatred  is 
simply  due  to  the  radical  contrast  of  its  underly- 
ing principle.  Christ  is  the  archetype  of  the  Chris- 
tian life,  in  that  He  laid  down  His  life  for  others. 
Then,  in  chapter  iv.  John  returns  by  way  of  con- 
trast to  speak  of  false  teaching.  Let  them  test  the 
spirits  to  see  whether  they  are  of  God:  "for  many 
false  prophets  have  gone  forth  into  the  world."  And 
the  test  is  this :  "  Every  spirit  that  acknowledgeth 
Jesus  Christ  as  come  in  flesh  (i.  e.,  in  full,  real 
humanity), is  of  God :  and  every  spirit  that  resolveth 1 
Jesus  (into  two  distinct  beings,  the  human  Jesus  and 
the  Divine  Christ),  is  not  of  God."  Here,  then,  we 
have  it,  the  theory  making  against  a  truly  ethical  life, 
a  walk  in  the  power  of  the  Truth.  It  was  not  quite 
what  later  passed  as  Docetism,  the  view  that  the 
Saviour  appeared  among  men  only  in  phantom  form, 
having  nothing  material  or  bodily  about  Him.  It 
was  rather  that  at  the  baptism  there  entered  into 
temporary  union  with  the  man  Jesus  the  heavenly 
being  called  the  Christ ;  so  that  the  two  remained  dis- 
tinguishable and  were  in  fact  separated  before  the 
Passion,  the  Christ  returning  to  heaven  and  Jesus 

1  The  oldest  reading  of  which  we  have  direct  evidence  (end  of 
second  century)  and  recommended  by  its  very  difficulty. 


430  The  Apostolic  Age. 

enduring  death  to  no  saving  end.1  Accordingly,  its 
adherents  made  much  of  the  Baptism.  In  it  the 
Christ  had  actually  "  come  "  ;  there  the  Divine  voice 
saluted  Jesus  as  the  Beloved  Son.  This  they  read 
in  the  light  of  Ps.  ii.  7  as  the  "  begetting  "  or  con- 
stituting of  Jesus  as  Messiah.  John  himself  saw 
great  significance  in  the  baptism  as  a  stage  in  the 
manifestation  of  the  Sonship :  but  he  no  less  insisted 
on  the  Passion  as  equally  essential,  witnessed  equally 
by  the  Spirit,  i.  e.,  by  supernatural  attestation  in  the 
fulfilment  of  prophecy.2  Thus,  "  three  are  they  that 
bear  witness,  the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the 
blood ;  and  the  three  converge  on  one  point,"  the 
unity  of  the  human  and  Divine  in  the  one  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  (v.  5-8). 

The  view  here  controverted  is  the  peculiar  semi- 
docetism  due  to  a  blending  of  Jewish  and  Hellenic 
elements,  and  identified  with  the  Hellenist  Cerinthus. 
He  had  come  to  share  the  philosophic  prejudice, 
usual  in  the  more  spiritual  Greek  thinkers,  against 
the  idea  that  the  Divine  could  share  in  the  weakness 
and  suffering  of  the  bodily  side  of  humanity.  Ac- 
cordingly he  made  his  heavenly  Christ's  connection 

1  The  absolute  dualism  of  "spirit"  and  "  flesh  "  which  they 
discerned  in  themselves, and  in  the  discovery  of  which  salvation  to 
them  largely  consisted,  they  saw  in  the  Saviour.  The  Christ  was 
a  "spirit"  which  dwelt  for  a  time  in  the  "  flesh  "  of  Jesus  with- 
out really  sharing  his  life. 

2  Probably  iu  the  circumstances  of  the  Passion :  the  casting  of 
the  lots  (John  xix.  24 ;  Ps.  xxii.  18),  the  Thirst  and  the  proffered 
Vinegar  (id.  29 ;  Ps.  lxix.  21),  "  not  a  bone  of  him  shall  be  broken 
(id.  36,  cf.  the  Paschal  Lamb,  Ex.  xii.  46,  and  Ps.  xxxiv.  20), 
and  the  Piercing  of  the  side  (id.  37  ;  Zech.  xii.  10). 


John's  Practical  Attitude.  431 

therewith  both  indirect  and  temporary.  His  "  Alex- 
andrine "  Greek  culture  warped  his  views  of  Jesus 
as  the  actual  Christ,  in  the  face  of  the  testimony  of 
the  original  witnesses.  This,  while  it  helped  to 
commend  his  teaching  to  the  current  culture  of  the 
day,  was  to  John  the  outcome  of  a  self-opinionated 
mind  and  the  opposite  of  childlike  docility  to  facts. 
It  wras  one  phase  of  the  worldly  principle.  He 
could,  therefore,  without  egotism  say  on  behalf  of 
the  surviving  witnesses  (iv.  5  f.)  :  "  They  are  of  the 
world :  for  this  reason  they  speak  of  the  world  and 
the  world  heareth  them.  We  are  of  God :  he  that 
knoweth  God  heareth  us :  he  who  is  not  of  God 
heareth  not  us.  By  this  we  knowr  the  spirit  of 
truth  and  the  spirit  of  error."  It  was  a  rough  and 
only  approximate  test,  true  not  so  much  of  in- 
dividuals as  of  a  class.  For  while  the  logic  of  any 
teaching  will  certainly  reveal  itself  in  the  class  in 
the  long  run,  the  individual  is  drawn  to  it  by  many 
motives,  and  by  these  he  must  be  judged.  But  in 
any  case  the  test  clearly  shows  the  practical  and  un- 
speculative  attitude  in  which  John  stood  to  Christian 
doctrine.  It  was  on  a  matter  of  fact  that  these  men 
turned  their  backs,  rather  than  on  a  theory.  Indeed 
their  theory  was  more  elaborate  than  the  funda- 
mental Christian  Confession,  "  Jesus  is  the  Christ " 
(John  i.  41-49,  vi.  69,  xx.  31),  which  they  rejected. 
And  so  their  error  had  a  moral  root.  It  had  also 
serious  practical  issues,  by  undermining  their  faith  in 
the  manifested  Life  as  the  pledge  and  real  basis  of 
the  Christian's  victory  over  the  world,  in  like  wise  to 
that  of  the  Saviour  himself. 


432  The  Apostolic  Age. 

It  is  this  sense  of  the  necessary  control  exercised 
over  the  whole  man,  his  affections  and  will,  by 
knowing  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  that  marks  off  John 
and  indeed  all  the  New  Testament  writers  from  those 
who  come  after.  The  Greek  idea  of  "  knowledge  " 
as  a  thing  of  the  intellect  merely,  a  matter  of  ideas 
apart  from  their  relation  to  conscience  and  conduct, 
soon  began  to  emasculate  the  fulness  of  the  biblical 
usage,  which  was  always  vita],  a  knowing  with  the 
whole  personality  or  heart.  This  Hebraic  or  experi- 
mental note  is  common  to  the  biblical  writings  and 
gives  them  their  peculiar  religious  quality.  But  it 
made  them  liable  to  constant  misinterpretation  by 
the  Greek  mind,  as  by  the  modern  mind  which  it  has 
so  largely  formed.  Their  religious  "  knowledge  "  has 
constantly  been  attenuated  into  theological  or  dog- 
matic, namely  the  former  minus  the  personal  attitude 
of  the  soul  in  which  it  exists.  Hence  the  absolute- 
ness of  the  bond  between  '"light"  and  "life," 
"  truth  "  and  "  righteousness,"  "  knowledge  "  and 
44  love,"  seems  to  the  superficial  reader  strained  and 
arbitrary.  He  is  thinking  of  the  former  ideas  as  ab- 
stract, as  they  may  exist  in  the  head  without  stirring 
the  heart ;  but  John  thinks  of  them  as  necessarily 
enkindling  their  appropriate  glow  throughout  the 
whole  man. 

To  an  eyewitness  possessed  by  the  personal  im- 
pression of  his  adored  Master,  the  self-deceived  or 
indeterminate  attitude  was  largely  unthinkable. 
And  so  we  must  take  many  of  the  apostle's  absolute 
statements,  not  as  truths  fulfilled  at  every  moment 
in    the   history  of   any  professing    Christian,  even 


The  Religious  Life.  433 


where  not  insincere,  but  as  putting  in  clear-cut  form 
tendencies  or  laws  of  the  religious  life  which  in  the 
long  run  assert  themselves  inevitably — and  would  do 
so  at  once,  were  man  more  consistent  in  his  inner 
life. 

In  this  ideal  sense,  it  is  true  that  "  he  that  abideth 
in  Him  sinneth  not "  in  conscious  purpose ;  that  is, 
so  far  as  one  abideth,  so  far  forth  he  sinneth  not. 
The  extreme  value  of  this  deeper  truth,  the  abiding 
union  of  the  new  life — "that  which  is  begotten  of 
God  " — with  its  kindred  source,  and  its  mighty  po- 
tency of  overcoming  the  world,  holds  good.  It  un- 
derlies the  Christian's  creed — the  nearest  thing  to  a 
confession  of  faith  found  in  the  Apostolic  writings — 
with  which  the  manifesto  closes.  "  We  know  that 
every  one  who  is  begotten  of  God  sinneth  not,  but 
the  Begotten  of  God  keepeth  him,  and  the  evil  one 
toucheth  him  not.  We  know  that  we  are  of  God 
and  the  whole  world  lieth  in  the  evil  one.  We 
know  that  the  Son  of  God  hath  come  and  hath  given 
us  understanding  to  recognize  Him  that  is  true,  and 
we  are  in  Him  that  is  true,  even  in  His  Son,  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  the  true  God  and  life  eternal.  Lit- 
tle children,  guard  yourselves  from  idols."  It  is  a 
genuinely  religious  utterance  ;  each  and  every  clause 
appeals  straight  to  the  Christian  experience  of  the 
simplest  saint.  Piety,  not  brains,  qualifies  for  its 
repetition  with  conviction.  It  is  no  amalgam  of  re- 
ligion and  philosophy,  though  it  no  doubt  involves 
much  with  which  philosophy  must  deal  in  its  own 
way.  But  this  is  not  religion's  way — the  Spirit's 
witness  with  the  conscious  spirit  of  man. 


434  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

From  the  vantage-ground  of  this  Epistle  we  can 
now  approach  the  Gospel  according  to  John,  so 
liable  to  misunderstanding  if  approached  directly 
from  the  side  of  contemporary  Greek  thought.  For 
in  that  case  one  fixes  on  the  term  "  the  Word  "  or 
Logos  prominent  in  its  preface,  and  construes  it  as 
one  would  in  Plato  or  at  least  in  the  Jewish  Plato, 
the  Alexandrine  Philo.  But  in  realit}^  the  question 
as  to  the  source  whence  John  borrowed  the  phrase 
is  quite  secondary ;  the  primary  thing  is  the  sense 
with  which  he  filled  it.  And  this,  in  the  light  of 
1  John,  is  seen  to  be  a  new  and  purely  religious  one. 
Lay  the  prefaces  of  the  two  writings  side  by  side, 
and  it  is  clear  that  what  in  1  John  the  writer  de- 
scribes in  his  own  chosen  way  as  the  Life,  he  styles 
in  his  Gospel  the  Word.  The  former,  as  used  in  the 
less  studied  writing,  gives  his  inmost  thought  in  its 
essential  or  religious  form.  If,  then,  the  latter  has 
really  its  philosophic  or  technical  sense  at  all  (see 
Rev.  xix.  13 ;  1  John  i.  1),  we  must  seek  the  reason 
not  so  much  in  the  writer  as  in  his  readers.  For  the 
Gospel  contemplates  others  besides  converts,  and 
aims  at  bringing  the  truth  more  into  contact  with 
the  higher  side  of  Hellenistic  thought. 

This  apologetic  significance  of  one  aspect  of  the 
preface  is  confirmed  by  another,  that  in  which  it 
contrasts  the  functions  of  John  as  Forerunner  and 
Jesus  as  Messianic  Son.  The  prominence  given  to 
their  relations  in  the  preface  and  first  chapter,  as 
also  elsewhere  (iii.  22-iv.  1,  v.  33  ff.,  x.  40-42),  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  practical  need  of  correct- 
ing a   wrong  view  on    the   subject,   current  in  the 


Motive  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  435 

writer's  time  and  locality.  Of  this  possibility  we 
already  have  some  hint  in  Acts  xviii.  24,  xix.  7. 
We  have  seen  too  how  the  Alexandrine  Cerinthus 
magnified  the  place  of  the  baptism  in  the  vocation 
of  Jesus ;  and  this  may  well  have  tended  to  put  Him 
and  the  Baptist  very  much  on  a  level. 1  Hence  John 
emphasizes  the  purely  preliminary  place  of  the  Bap- 
tist; while,  as  against  Cerinthus'  theory,  the  Word 
— the  very  Life  and  Light  of  God  as  manifest — is 
boldly  stated  to  have  become  flesh,  i.  e.,  human,  and 
to  have  been  the  object  of  the  Baptist's  dutiful  wit- 
ness. Once  we  grasp  this  principle,  the  explanatory 
and  corrective  motive  of  the  work, — as  a  gospel 
meant  to  supplement  the  Synoptic  type  in  view  of 
subsequent  developments  of  thought — the  whole  be- 
comes full  of  suggestions  as  to  the  actual  situation 
in  Ephesus  and  its  district.  We  overhear,  as  it 
were,  not  only  the  wild  theorizings  prompted  by 
pagan  habits  of  thought,  whether  Oriental  or  Greek, 
but  also  the  objections  of  Jewish  prejudice  living 
on  outside  Palestine.  This  alone  can  explain  its 
preservation  of  the  controversies  of  the  old  Judsean 
days,  otherwise  quite  out  of  place  in  a  work  domi- 

1  Some  disciples  of  John  seem  even  to  have  claimed  that  the 
Baptist  himself  was  the  Christ,  seeing  that  Jesus  had  called  him 
"greater  than  all  men  and  all  prophets"  (cf.  Matt.  xi.  9,  11). 
This  at  least  is  stated  in  the  Clementine  Recognitions,  i.  60.  And  it 
must  be  allowed  that  the  reference  to  the  Baptist  in  John  i.  6-8 
gains  in  point,  if  we  may  assume  that  the  evangelist  is  here  cor- 
recting such  a  view.  Iu  that  case  we  get  a  motive  for  the  elabor- 
ate terms  in  which  the  Word  is  described,  in  contrast  to  the  con- 
tents of  the  Gospel  and  the  wording  of  its  aim  in  xx.  31,  and  that 
without  attributing  to  John  a  more  philosophic  interest  than  he 
elsewhere  exhibits. 


436  The  Apostolic  Age. 

nated  not  by  the  historical  but  by  the  religious  in- 
terest. 1  And  in  the  greater  variety  of  the  views 
thus  corrected,  as  also  in  the  more  developed  form 
of  the  error  involved,  2  we  have  a  hint  that  the 
Gospel  came  later  than  the  Epistle,  and  was  in  fact 
John's  last  work. 

In  another  respect  the  analogy  of  1  John  explains 
things3  about  the  Gospel.  As  the  one  has  been 
seen  to  proceed  from  a  circle  rather  than  an  individ- 
ual and  to  be  addressed  to  a  definite  constituency 
of  readers,  so  is  it  with  the  other.  This  appears 
from  several  passages  in  which  the  third  person  of 
narration  is  broken  into  b}^  "asides,"  as  it  were, 
using  the  "we"  and  "you  "  of  more  personal  refer- 
ence. Thus,"  the  Word  became  flesh  and  tabernacled 
among  us  and  we  beheld  His  glory,"  is  the  testimony 
of  a  body  of  original  eyewitnesses ;  while  the  solemn 
witness  as  to  the  pierced  side  and  the  emission  of 
blood  and  water,  is  made  "  that  ye  may  the  more  be- 
lieve." The  form  of  this  asseveration  is  remarkable. 
It  is  as  follows:  "And  he  that  hath  beheld  hath 
borne  witness,  and  true  is  his  witness  ;  and  that  One 
(i.  e.,  the   Sufferer,  now  glorified)  knoweth  that  he 

1  See  viii.  48  ff.,  ix.  29.,  x.  15  ff.,  xi.  51  ff.,  xii.  32.,  xviii.  4  ff., 
xix.  11. 

2  la  xix.  34  f.,  but  not  in  1  John,  it  is  implied  that  the  body  of 
Christ  was  alleged  to  have  been  only  a  seeming  body. 

3  One  may  add  what  seems  at  first  a  crude  use  of  the  term 
"flesh"  in  certain  contexts,  e.  g.,  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of 
Man  (vi.  51  ff.).  The  fact  is,  that  it  has  become  to  John  a  tech- 
nical term  for  the  humanity  of  Christ,  even  when  he  is  referring 
not  to  its  bodily  but  only  to  its  spiritual  side — what  Paul  calls 
"the  mind  of  Christ " — as  embodied  piecemeal  in  His  sayings  (vi. 
63). 


First  Draft  and  Appendix.  437 

speaketh  truth."  Here  the  author,  who  elsewhere 
alludes  to  himself  only  covertly  as  "the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved,"  or  "another  disciple"  (in  asso- 
ciation with  Simon  Peter),  is  speaking  in  his  own 
person  as  clearly  as  he  cared  to  do.  For  he  has  just 
referred  to  "the  disciple  whom  He  loved"  as  stand- 
ing by  the  cross.  And  finally,  in  the  closing  words 
of  the  Gospel  as  originally  planned  and  executed 
(xx.  31),  direct  appeal  is  made  to  the  writer's  con- 
stituency, presumably  the  same  as  in  1  John,  as  if 
ideally  present  and  listening  to  him  witnessing  in  a 
Church  gathering.  "These  things  have  been  writ- 
ten that  ye  may  go  on  believing  (-jo-Tsuiy-re,  as  in  xix. 
35)  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and 
that  as  ye  believe  ye  may  have  life  in  His  name." 

Here,  obviously,  the  first  draft  of  the  gospel  ended. 
But  before  it  really  went  forth  to  the  Asian  Churches, 
chapter  xxi.  was  added  as  a  sort  of  appendix.  This 
can  have  been  done  only  to  meet  a  pressing  prac- 
tical want,  a  want  that  had  not  occurred  to  the  writer 
himself,  but  rather  to  others  on  hearing  what  he  had 
written  and  on  being  consulted  as  to  its  fitness  in  re- 
lation to  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  Churches.  While 
the  language  and  style  are  generally  of  a  piece  with 
what  precedes,  there  are  notes  at  the  end  which  im- 
ply the  hand  of  others.  Thus  the  appendix  is  the 
work  of  John's  companions,  who  added,  with  his 
consent,  with  his  help,  and  in  his  familiar  style  (one 
may  have  been  his  amanuensis l ),  what  they  felt  to 

1  This  slight  intervention  of  another  may  explain  the  phrase 
"  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,"  just  the  title  by  which  John 
would  be  lovingly  known  among  his  friends,  but  hardly  one  he 
would  of  his  own  motion  use  in  writing  of  himself. 


438  The  Apostolic  Age. 

be  a  word  for  the  times.  Nor  is  their  motive  ob- 
scure. It  is  implied  iu  verse  23.  They  wished  to 
correct  authoritatively  a  mistaken  inference  from  a 
current  saying  of  the  Lord,  to  the  effect  that  the 
Parousia  should  occur  during  John's  lifetime.  This 
was  not  the  real  point  of  the  saying  itself,  but  it  was 
an  easy  perversion  of  it,  and  had  its  grave  dangers. 
John  was  still  alive  (as  '*he  who  witnesseth  ")  ;  but 
he  might  well  die  before  the  Parousia,  even  though 
it  were  actually  near  at  hand.  The  credit  of  the 
Lord's  word  was  too  precious  to  be  staked  on  a  mis- 
understanding. Hence  this  appendix,  calmly  correc- 
tive of  the  saying  current  "among  the  brethren." 
Accordingly  the  fourth  gospel  appeared  with  the 
weight  not  only  of  the  greatest  of  surviving  Apos- 
tles, but  also  of  a  circle  of  responsible  associates1 
in  Ephesus,  among  whom  were  eyewitnesses  of  the 
Saviour's  life.  And  that  is  just  what  late  second 
century  tradition  tells  us  of  the  quasi-collective 
authorship  of  this,  the  latest  of  the  gospels. 

One  further  inference  seems  warranted,  that  as  to 
date.  It  is  natural  to  surmise  that  it  was  John's  ad- 
vanced age  that  forced  the  need  of  the  appendix  on 
the  attention  of  his  friends.  This  would  point  to  a 
time  somewhere  about  90,  when  John  would  be  hardly 
less  than  eighty  years  of  age.  Putting  the  gospel 
then  c.  85-90,  A.  D.,  one  would  put  the  epistles  a 
little  earlier.     There  is  an  early  tradition  that  John 

1  The  contrast,  of  the  first  persou,  "  I  suppose,"  in  the  last  verse 
of  all  (xxi.  25),  implies  that  its  naive  hyperbole  is  only  the  en- 
thusiasm of  some  individual,  added  to  a  copy  of  the  finished  work 
— probably  the  official  copy  belonging  to  the  Ephesian  Church. 


Mysticism,  Pauline  and  Johannine.  439 


survived  Domitian's  reign  :  and  there  is  no  objection 
to  this,  so  long  as  one  does  not  put  his  last  writings  in 
extreme  old  age,  of  which  they  bear  no  trace.  The 
last  glimpse  of  him  that  tradition  gives  us  is  not  of 
literary  activity,  or  even  of  preaching  in  the  ordinary 
sense  ;  but  of  the  old  man,  in  extreme  feebleness,  but 
more  than  ever  the  object  of  affectionate  reverence, 
being  carried  into  the  church-meeting  and  being  able 
now  to  say  little  more  than,  "  Little  children,  love 
one  another."     A  fit  epilogue  to  his  life-work. 

The  later  Johannine  writings  testify  in  a  twofold 
way  to  the  impression  which  the  Pauline  gospel  had 
left  on  Ephesus  and  the  adjoining  regions.  Not 
only  did  the  antinomian  tendency  of  those  against 
whom  John  writes  in  the  First  Epistle  (e.  r/.,  i.  6-9, 
ii.  4,  iii.  4  ff.)  probably  support  itself  upon  Paul's 
contrast  between  "  flesh  "  and  "  spirit,"  which  they 
twisted  to  the  sense  that  the  spirit  of  the  regenerate 
had  no  responsibility  for  the  flesh  and  its  deeds.1 
John's  own  way  of  meeting  them  is  on  the  lines  of 
the  Pauline  experience  and  doctrine  of  the  victory 
of  the  spirit  over  the  flesh  in  virtue  of  mystical 
union  with  Christ.  He  opposes  to  the  false  knowl- 
edge (gnosis')  of  God  in  Christ,  intellectual  or  emo- 

1  If  any  one  wishes  to  realize  how  this  could  come  about,  let 
him  read  Rom.  vii.  7-25,  that  striking  passage  of  spiritual  auto- 
biography, into  which  few  then  or  long  after  were  able  to  enter. 
Once  miss,  as  the  Greek  mind  was  prone  to  do,  the  moral  sense 
of  "  the  flesh  "  as  an  integral  element  in  a  man's  very  personality, 
and  one  can  see  how  men  could  believe  that  it  was  from  all  re- 
gard to  the  doings  of  the  body  or  flesh,  as  mere  moral  delusion, 
that  God  delivered  men  in  Christ.  Such  would  then  take  v.  25 
literally,  and  unconcernedly  live  two  lives. 


440  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

tioual  merely,  the  true  gnosis  which  implies  moral 
identity  likewise,  the  spiritual  union  of  the  whole 
man.  It  is  this  profoundly  ethical  mysticism  which 
marks  the  writings  of  the  chief  New  Testament 
writers  as  compared  with  other  products  of  the 
Apostolic  and  Post-Apostolic  Ages.  It  means  that 
the  personality  of  each  is  so  mastered  by  an  impres- 
sion of  Christ  as  He  actually  lived,  as  to  be  pene- 
trated by  his  spirit  and  become  truly  one  with  Him 
in  aim,  motive,  feeling.  This  peculiarly  vital  one- 
ness, which  may  be  styled  New  Testament  Mysticism, 
meets  us  in  different  forms  and  degrees  in  Peter, 
Paul,  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews,1  and  "  the  beloved 
disciple."  In  John  it  does  not  appear  with  greater 
intensity  than  in  Paul.  But  since  in  Paul  it  alter- 
nates with  several  other  aspects  of  Christian  ex- 
perience, it  impresses  the  reader  less  uniformly  than 
in  the  case  of  John. 

The  Johamiine  mode  of  thought,  then,  is  not 
speculative,  but  mystical.  John  is  satisfied  to  brood 
on  the  intuitional  aspects  of  spiritual  things,  the 
deep  things  of  the  inner  life,  with  little  or  no  regard 
to  the  world  of  phenomena.  He  makes  no  effort  to 
systematize  his  fundamental  ideas  of  light,  life,  love, 
and  such  like,  by  formally  working  out  their  mutual 
relations.  He  knows  them  to  involve  each  other  in 
religious  experience :  and  it  is  enough  for  him  to 
witness  as  a  seer  or  prophet.  The  prophet  witnesses, 
the  philosopher  discusses :  and  the  meditation  in  John 
iii.   16-21   admirably   illustrates   the  distinction  in 

1  Of  these  three  Paul  exhibits  it  the  most  deeply,  and  his  influ- 
ence probably  helped  to  develop  it  in  the  others. 


The  Synoptics  Supplemented.  441 

form  where  the  substance  most  belongs  to  both.  In 
this  the  disciple  probably  preserves  a  side  or  mood 
of  his  Master  towards  which  he  alone  was  adequately 
receptive.1  Indeed  it  is  hard  to  say  where  memory 
ends  and  meditation  begins  to  develop  the  Master's 
quickening  germs  of  thought,  under  the  illumination 
of  that  "other  Paraclete"  of  whom  John  makes  such 
emphatic  mention  (xiv.-xvi.).  He  had  treasured  up 
many  a  deep  saying  of  the  Master's  which  had  failed 
to  pass  into  the  Synoptic  tradition,  shaped  as  it  was 
by  a  natural  selection  determined  by  the  Palestinian 
environment  of  the  earliest  preaching.  And  as  his 
own  environment  changed  from  Palestine  to  many- 
sided  Ephesus,  stimulative  of  the  more  reflective 
aspects  of  any  religion,  there  came  back  to  him,  in 
his  practical  work  of  teaching,  situations  and  sayings 
of  which  he  had  not  before  seen  the  inner  signifi- 
cance. And  so  the  distinctive  cycle  of  the  Johan- 
nine  witness  took  ever  fuller  and  more  articulate 
shape.2 

1  We  feel  that  the  general  impression  of  the  place  of  love  in  the 
Muster's  teaching  left  on  the  mind  by  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  im- 
plies a  good  deal  more  than  they  report  on  this  theme.  Here 
John's  gospel  but  supplies  what  Christian  experience  divines  must 
have  existed  in  that  teaching  which  was  so  far  above  the  disciples 
who  heard  it. 

2  For  its  relation  to  the  Synoptic  narrative  see  Literary  Appendix. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Rome  and  Corinth :     Clement 's  Epistle. 

URING  some  thirty  years  from  the  Nero- 
nian  outbreak  in  64,  we  have  no  clear 
knowledge  of  the  fortunes  of  the  Church 
in  either  of  these  chief  centres  of  the 
gospel  in  the  West.  But  we  may  safely 
infer  a  few  things  as  regards  Rome.  Already  in 
Paul's  day  Christianity  seems  to  have  obtained  a 
footing  among  the  slaves  and  freedmen  (often  Jews) 
of  certain  noble  houses,  including  Caesar's.  Nay  we 
know  of  one  case,  quite  by  chance,  in  which  the 
noble  mistress  of  such  a  household  had  herself  im- 
bibed the  new  faith  l  before  Paul  reached  Rome.  Ac- 
cordingly we  may  imagine  Christianity  spreading 
steadily  among  the  dependents  of  not  a  few  noble 
houses,  and  even  among  the  more  seriously  minded 
members  of  some  of  them ;  until  we  get  tragic  evi- 
dence of  its  presence  in  the  case  of  Titus  Flavius 
Clemens  and  his  wife  Domitilla,  both  relations  of  the 
Emperor  Domitian,  as  already  described. 

This  crowning  act  of  jealous  cruelty,  in  the  winter 
of  95-96,  was  but  one  of  several  waves  of  quickly 
recurring  havoc  that  broke  over  the  Roman  church 
within  the  last  year  or  so  of  Domitian's  life,  which 

1  Poraponia  Grcecina,  wife  of  Plautius  the  conqueror  of  Britain. 
442 


Life  of  the  Roman  Church.  443 

ended  in  September,  96,  under  the  dagger  of  one  of 
Domitilla's  freedmen.  And  it  is  just  at  this  crisis 
that  we  are  allowed  once  more  to  see  into  the  life 
of  the  Roman  church.  The  document  to  which  we 
owe  this  glimpse  but  illustrates  afresh  the  char- 
acter of  our  sources,  at  once  fortuitous  and  forced 
from  the  writers  by  practical  wants.  In  this  case  it 
is  the  distracted  condition  of  the  sister  church  of 
Corinth  that  evokes  a  letter  of  counsel  and  appeal. 
Corinth  was  under  the  Empire  a  Roman  colony: 
and  there  was  a  strong  bond  between  the  two  cities 
and  churches.  The  situation  is  vividly  set  forth  in 
the  opening  paragraph  of  the  letter,  which  is  couched 
in  the  first  person  plural  of  collective  authorship.1 

"The  Church  of  God  sojourning  in  Rome  to  the  Church  of  God 
sojourning  in  Corinth,  to  men  called,  sanctified  (cf.  1  Cor.  i.  If.) 
by  the  will  of  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  to  you 
and  peace  from  Almighty  God,  through  Jesus  Christ,  be  multi- 
plied. By  reason  of  the  sudden  and  repeated  calamities  and 
hindrances  which  have  come  upon  us,  we  seem  to  have  been  all 
too  slow  in  giving  attention  to  the  matters  in  discussion  among 
you,  dearly  beloved,  and  to  the  detestable  and  unholy  sedition,  so 
alien  and  strange  to  the  elect  of  God,  which  a  few  persons  in  their 
headstrong  self-will  have  kindled  to  such  a  pitch  of  madness, 
that  your  name,  once  revered  and  renowned  and  lovely  in  the 
sight  of  all  men,  hath  been  greatly  reviled." 

Very  different  were  the  former  times.  Their  firm 
faith,  sober  and  forbearing  piety,  large  hospitality, 
perfect  and  sound  knowledge,  were  admired  by  all. 

1  This  holds  good  of  correspondence  between  these  churches  into 
the  second  half  of  the  next  century.  Though  a  church  official 
naturally  drew  them  up,  such  letters  were  from  church  to  church, 
not  from  clergy  to  clergy,  much  less  from  one  chief  pastor  to  an- 
other. The  significance  of  this,  as  compared  with  later  usage,  is 
immense. 


444  The  Apostolic  Age. 

"For  ye  did  all  things  without  respect  of  persons,-  and  ye 
walked  alter  the  ordinances  of  God,  submitting  to  your  rulers 
(yyouiiivots)  and  rendering  to  the  seniors  (xpeGfiuT£poi<i~)  among 
you  the  honor  that  is  their  due  :  while  on  the  young  ye  enjoined 
modesty  and  seemliness  of  mind  :  and  the  women  ye  charged  to 
perform  all  their  duties  in  a  blameless  and  becoming  and  pure 
conscience." 

From  this  we  gather,  (1)  that  discussion  on  certain 
matters  had  arisen  in  the  Church  at  Corinth ;  (2) 
that  along  with  this  there  was  actual  faction  (^raVi?) 
in  the  community  ;  (3)  that  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Roman  church  the  root  of  both  lay  in  lowered  spir- 
ituality, as  compared  with  even  their  recent  past. 
These  points  are  developed  in  the  long  and  rather 
rambling  letter  which  follows,  much  of  which  con- 
sists of  Old  Testament  instances  of  the  piety  to 
which  they  are  being  recalled  and  of  warnings  as  to 
the  dangers  of  pride  and  impenitence. 

The  deterioration  of  tone  complained  of  is  traced 
to  their  former  prosperity.  "  Hence  came  jealousy 
and  envy,  strife  and  faction,  persecution  and  tumult, 
war  and  captivity."  Accordingly  the  evils  of  jeal- 
ousy, beginning  with  Cain  and  Abel  and  ending 
with  Peter,  Paul,  and  the  Neronian  martyrs  in  Rome 
— whose  sufferings  and  death,  it  is  hinted,  were  oc- 
casioned by  (Jewish)  envy — are  set  forth  in  full ;  and 
the  moral  is  drawn  that  God  can  only  be  pleased 
(the  distinctive  idea  of  religion  in  this  letter)  by 
their  repenting  of  this  spirit.  Obedience  is  the  one 
way  to  God's  favor:  this  was  involved  in  the  "faith" 
or  fidelity  of  an  Abraham,  a  Lot,  a  Rahab. 

"  Let  us  then,  brethren,  be  lowly-minded,  laying  aside  all  ar- 
rogance and  conceit  and  folly  and  angers,"  and  boast  only  in  the 


Roman  notion  of  Corinthian  affairs.         445 

Lord:  "most  of  all  remembering  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,1 
which  He  spake  teaching  forbearance  and  long-suffering.  For 
thus  He  spake:  Be  merciful,  that  ye  may  receive  mercy:  forgive, 
that  it  may  be  forgiven  to  you.  As  ye  do,  so  shall  it  be  done  to  you. 
As  ye  give,  so  shall  it  be  given  to  you.  As  ye  judge,  so  shall  ye  be 
judged.  As  ye  show  kindness,  so  shall  kindness  be  shown  to  you. 
With  what  measure  ye  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  withal  to  you .2  .  .  . 
For  the  holy  word  saith  :  Upon  whom  shall  I  look,  save  upon 
him  that  is  gentle  and  quiet  and  feareth  Mine  oracles 3  (Logia) . 
Therefore  it  is  right  and  proper,  brethren,  that  we  should  be 
obedient  to  God,  rather  than  follow  those  who  in  arrogance  and 
nnruliness  of  abominable  jealousy  would  take  the  lead.  .  .  . 
Let  us  cleave  to  them  that  practise  peace  with  godliness,  and  not 
to  them  that  wish  for  peace  hypocritically  "  (xiii.-xv.). 

Here  we  have  the  essence  of  the  situation,  as  the 
Roman  church  conceived  it.  Those  who  adhered 
to  the  existing  order  as  fixed  by  the  traditions  of  the 
community,  and  under  which  they  had  flourished  in 
godliness,  were  falling  in  with  God's  ways  as  re- 
vealed in  the  steadfast  course  of  Nature  and  in  the 
institutions  of  Old  Testament  worship.  Those  on 
the  other  hand  who  were  not  content  with  this,  but 
desired  to  improve  on  things  by  having  fresh  persons 
in  office  as  leaders,  were  thereby  convicted  of  pride 
and  self-seeking,  a  temper  alien  to  a  humble  and 
dutiful  walk  with  God. 

1  It  seems  from  this  and  from  another  echo  of  Acts  xx.  35,  in 
our  second  quotation,  that  Acts  was  already  known  in  Rome. 

2  The  difference  of  form  in  this  terse  and  confident  citation  of 
sayings  of  Jesus,  from  that  in  which  similar  words  appear  in 
Matthew  and  Luke,  supports  the  view  already  stated,  that  each 
church  had  its  oral  type  of  Logia  which  long  survived  (cf. 
xlvi.  8). 

3  Is.  lxvi.  2  has  simply  "words,"  a  hint  of  the  practical  equiv- 
alence of  the  two  terms. 


446  The  Apostolic  Age. 


We  cannot,  of  course,  accept  this  second-hand  esti- 
mate of  the  spirit  of  the  recent  changes  as  an  un- 
colored  account  of  the  facts.     The  zealous  and  al- 
most exclusive  concern  for  the  established  order  at 
any  price,  and  the  lack  of  all  jaense  that  there  was 
any  case  for  the   other  side,  awaken  suspicion  as  to 
the  Roman  church's  ability  to  be  fair  in  such  a  case, 
even  were  all  the  facts  before  them.     So  that  their 
attitude  is  to  be  taken  primarily  as  bearing  on  their 
own   temper,  the    Roman   love   of  law  and   order, 
through  which  they  interpreted  the  Christian  religion 
and  carried  on  their  own  organized  life  on  lines  be- 
lieved to    continue    Apostolic   arrangements.     But, 
while  the  Roman  church  was,  and  remained  for  a 
century  more,  a  Greek-speaking  community,  its  view 
was  no  final  measure  of  the  traditions  of  a  church 
like  that  of  Corinth.     It  is  true  that  even  it  had  a 
considerable   Roman  element:  and  this  may  help  to 
account  for  the  marked  divergence  of  ideals l  implied 
in  the  situation  now  in  question.     But  the  change 
of   officers  which  shocked    Roman    sentiment,  may 
well  have  been  due  to  a  desire  to  make  the  ministry 
more  representative— and  so  more  in  keeping  with 
Greek  habits— by  breaking  through  the  tradition  of 
permanence  in  office  which  seems  to  have  existed, 
for  sometime  at  least,  even  in  Corinth. 

This  account  of  the  motives  for  the  change  has  at 

1  It  is  just  possible  that  the  official  elders  or  overseers  had  run 
beyond  the  church's  sentiment,  in  checking  the  more  exuberant 
manifestations  of  spiritual  life  described,  on  their  worse  side,  in 
the  Roman  letter  (cf.  lvii.  1).  That  is,  divergent  ideals  of  disci- 
pline—in which  the  church  then  and  long  after  had  a  voice— may 
have  been  at  work. 


Not  quite  true  to  the  Facts.  447 

any  rate  one  clear  advantage  over  that  suggested  by 
the  Roman  letter.  It  starts  from  the  hard  fact — 
which  the  latter  hardly  faces — that  the  deposition 
of  existing  officers  was  an  act  of  the  church  as  a 
whole.  Indeed  it  is  with  stultifying  their  own 
previous  approval  of  these  very  men  for  office,  that 
the  letter  at  one  point  twits  the  Corinthians.  But 
this  misses  what  was  probably  the  very  point  of  the 
Corinthian  majority;  namely  that  they  were  doing 
good  men  no  wrong  in  asking  them  to  retire  and 
give  the  brethren  a  fresh  chance  of  honoring  whom 
they  would  with  the  responsibility  of  office.  The 
issue,  then,  was  simply  that  of  temporary  instead  of 
lifelong  office,  subject  to  good  conduct.  This  fits 
all  the  facts  without  resorting  to  the  most  unchari- 
table and  unlikely  hypothesis  that  the  bulk  of  the 
Corinthians  had  taken  this  step  owing  to  defective 
piety.  Why  this  sudden  change  from  the  fervent 
piety  and  charity  of  their  former  state  as  eulogized 
in  this  very  letter  ?  The  Roman  view  is  self-con- 
tradictory, save  on  the  theory  of  a  sudden  and  potent 
influence  having  come  from  outside  and  carried  the 
church  off  its  feet.  But  of  this  there  is  no  trace. 
Had  it  been  so,  the  Romans  would  have  laid  due 
stress  on  the  fact. 

The  movement  was  from  within,  was  in  keeping 
with  relations  between  leaders  and  community  al- 
ready visible  in  Paul's  day,  and  expressed  a  spirit 
surviving  continuously  up  to  the  moment  when  it  felt 
called  on  to  assert  its  rights.  Indeed  it  is  probable 
that  the  crisis  was  due  to  a  perception  that  custom 
was  threatening  to  harden  into  a  principle  and  con- 


448  The  Apostolic  Age. 

stitute  a  claim.  On  such  occasions  two  opinions  are 
always  taken  and  with  some  justification.  In  the 
protest  itself  a  few  individuals  would  naturally  take 
the  lead :  but  the  significant  thing  is  that  they  were 
supported  by  the  majority,  a  fact  which  seems  to 
imply  that  their  act,  if  novel  in  form,  was  only  the 
corollary  of  a  principle  of  control  over  its  own 
officers  assumed  from  the  first  in  the  Corinthian 
Ecclesia.)  as  in  other  Greek  religious  associations. 

Further  light  may  perhaps  be  gained  from  the  fact 
that  the  charge  of  pride  goes  along  with  certain 
allusions  to  special  gifts  of  wisdom  or  eloquence. 
For  this  seems  to  have  a  bearing  upon  some  of  the 
motives  for  change  in  the  persons  composing  the 
church's  regular  ministry.  When  we  recollect  that 
Corinth  was  the  church  to  which  Paul  said  most  on 
spiritual  gifts  and  their  place  in  the  Church's  life 
and  worship,  we  feel  safe  in  reading  between  the  lines 
which  speak  of  "  senseless  men,  such  as  exalt  them- 
selves and  boast  in  the  arrogance  of  their  speech." 
"  The  authors  of  the  dissension  "  are  bidden  to  "  lay 
aside  the  arrogant  and  overweening  self-will  of  their 
tongue : "  since  it  is  better  for  them  "  to  be  found 
little  in  the  flock  of  Christ  and  yet  be  reckoned  of 
it,  than  to  be  had  in  exceeding  repute  and  yet  be 
cast  out  from  His  hope." 

"  Granted  that  a  man  be  faithful,  able  to  tell  out  a  deep  saying 
(gnosis,  i.  e.,  bring  out  the  hidden  sense  of  a  Scripture),  wise  in 
discerning  uttered  thoughts,  strenuous  in  deeds,  chaste  :  all  the 
more  then  ought  he  to  be  lowly  in  mind,  in  proportion  as  he 
seemeth  to  be  greater,  and  to  seek  the  common  profit  of  all,  and  not 
his  own."  And  once  more  :  "So  let  our  whole  corporate  fellow- 
ship ( '  body  ')  be  saved  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  let  each  subordinate 


Gifts,  and  the  Lead  in  Worship.  449 

himself  to  his  neighbor,  even  as  he  was  appointed  in  virtue  of  hia 
speoial  gift  (charisma).  Let  not  the  strong  neglect  the  weak  ;  and 
let  the  weak  respect  the  strong.  Let  the  rich  furnish  aid  to  the 
poor;  and  let  the  poor  give  thanks  to  God  because  He  hath  given 
him  one  through  whom  his  lack  may  be  supplied.  Let  the  wise 
display  his  wisdom  not  in  words,  but  in  good  works.  He  that 
cultivateth  a  lowly  mind,  let  him  not  bear  testimony  to  himself, 
but  leave  testimony  to  himself  to  be  borne  by  another.  He  that 
is  chaste  in  the  flesh,  let  him  be  so  and  not  boast,  knowing  that 
it  is  Another  who  bestoweth  upon  him  his  continence." 

The  qualities  here  alluded  to — which  include 
those  of  "  saintliness "  in.  a  way  suggestive  of  the 
later  ascetic  type — are  clearly  those  on  which  Bome 
part  of  the  new  leaders'  claims  were  based.  They 
remind  us  of  Rom.  xii.  3  ff.,  and  various  passages 
in  1  Cor.  And  if  the  moral  enforced  is  also  St. 
Paul's,  namely  that  gifts  apart  from  love  in  their 
exercise  are  but  a  snare,  yet  this  does  not  prove 
that  the  men  of  gift  were  in  the  wrong  in  the  pres- 
ent case.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  jealousy  of 
the  office-holder  towards  the  man  of  gift,  as  well  as 
vice  versa.  And  it  may  well  be  that  "  gifts  "  were 
not  receiving  what  seemed,  in  the  light  of  the  past, 
their  due  place  in  the  conduct  of  public  worship. 
We  cannot  now  decide  how  far  blame  rested  with 
one  or  both  of  the  sides.  But  let  us  once  more  re- 
member that  the  church  as  a  whole  sided  with  the 
men  of  gift  (as  it  seems),  as  entitled  to  share  more 
largely  in  leading  the  church's  worship. 

The  nature  of  such  service  comes  out  incidentally 

in  the  following  passage.     "  For  it  will  be  no  light 

sin  in  us,  if  we  thrust  out  from  the  oversight  (epis- 

kopS)  those  who  have  offered  the  gifts  unblameably 

CC 


450  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

and  holily."  This  leading  of  the  church's  prayer 
and  thanksgiving  (Eucharist),  wherein  their  gifts  to 
God's  service  in  every  form  were  offered  as  a  sacri- 
fice1 of  praise  to  the  Giver  of  all,  came  more  and 
more  to  give  those  to  whose  lot  it  fell  a  unique  place 
of  honor  and  inflHence.  It  came  in  time  to  be  called 
"  the  liturgy  "  or  service,  whereas  all  sacred  service 
was  originally  so  styled 2  {leitourgia).  And  of  this  the 
official 'heads  of  the  church,  overseers  or  ejriscopi, 
had  now  the  practical  monopoly.  This  was  a  dis- 
tinct shrinkage  from  the  older  custom,  perhaps  im- 
plied at  Corinth  in  Paul's  day  (1  Cor.  xiv.  16  f.) 
and  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Didache,  according  to 
which  this  function  was  regarded  as  primarily  at- 
taching to  spiritual  gift,  rather  than  office.  Hence 
to  "prophets"  fell  the  first-fruits  of  the  people's 
substance — "for  they  are  your  high  priests  " 3 — and 
failing  them,  to  the  poor.     Only  secondarily  to  the 

1  The  Roman  letter  is  inclined,  in  keeping  with  an  exaggerated 
typicnl  method,  as  if  the  New  were  but  the  counterpart  of  the 
Old  and  had  no  distinctive  features,  to  argue  from  the  details  of 
Jewish  ministry  to  those  of  the  Christian.  The  absurdity  of  this 
exegetical  method  comes  out  strikingly  in  their  forcing  the  Chris- 
tian offices  which  interest  them,  into  the  text  of  Is.  lx.  17,  by 
which  they  wish  to  support  the  two  orders  of  "bishops  and 
deacons  "  (see  below).  Yet  even  so  they  assign  to  priests  only  a 
certain  "  place  "  or  office  of  order. 

2 So  the  Old  Testament  prophets  are  styled  "the  ministers 
(Icilourgoi)  of  the  grace  of  God,"  aud  Noah  "by  his  ministry 
(leitourgia)  preached  regeneration  to  the  world  "  (viii.,  ix.). 

3  It  is  worth  while  observing  that  the  letter  does  not  speak  of 
any  earthly  high  priests.  It  reserves,  by  a  more  careful  use  of 
the  Jewish  analogy  shared  with  Hebrews,  the  title  for  the  heavenly 
High  Priest,  even  Christ  (xxxvi.  1).  Thus  there  are  only  two 
earthly  orders  of  ministers,  auswering  to  priests  aud  Levites. 


Direction  of  Christian  Sentiment  at  Rome.   451 

men  of  gift,  and  to  make  up  for  their  growing 
rarity,  do  "  bishops  and  deacons "  perform  this 
higher  ministry  :  "  for  these  too  minister  for  you 
the  ministry  of  the  prophets  and  teachers." 

It  seems,  then,  that  the  original  relation  of  the  two 
types  of  qualification  for  such  ministry  was  being 
ignored  in  Corinth  when  the  ministerial  troubles 
arose  there :  and  that  the  Roman  church  at  least 
could  see  little  but  innovation  on  its  own  practice  in 
what  was  rather  a  conservative  step.  And  this  all 
in  good  faith  ;  for  in  Rome  usages  probably  developed 
in  an  official  direction  earlier  than  on  Greek  soil. 
The  divergent  tempers  of  these  two  churches  were 
typical  of  two  races,  two  attitudes,  two  mental 
habits.  Through  them  we  may  look  out  to  the  con- 
trasted futures  of  Greek  and  Latin  Christianity,  from 
the  second  century  onwards. 

While,  then,  we  cannot  appeal  to  what  the  Roman 
letter  says  touching  the  Christian  ministry  in 
general,  as  bearing  directly  on  the  principles  recog- 
nized in  Corinth;  since  the  two  churches  felt  so  dif- 
ferently as  to  what  had  happened;  we  may  quote  the 
following  as  showing  the  lines  on  which  Christian 
sentiment  was  moving  in  Rome  at  the  close  of  the 
first  century. 

Having  cited  the  ministry  under  the  Old  Cove- 
nant to  prove  that  "  we  ought  to  do  all  things  in 
order"  (ra£ec),  "not  at  random  or  without  order,  but 
at  fixed  seasons  and  times,"  they  continue: 

"Our  Apostles  received  the  gospe]  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ: 
Jesus  the  Christ  was  sent  forth  from  God.     So  theu  the  Christ  is 


452  The  Apostolic  Age. 


from  God,  and  the  Apostles  are  from  the  Christ.  Both  therefore 
came  of  the  will  of  God  iu  orderly  fashion.  Having  then  re- 
ceived charges,  and  being  fully  assured  by  the  resurrection  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  confirmed  in  the  message  of  God  with 
accompanying  Holy  Spirit  assurance,  they  went  forth  with  the 
glad  tidings  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  about  to  come.  So 
preaching  everywhere  in  country  and  in  town,  they  appointed 
their  first-fruits,  when  they  had  proved  them  by  the  Spirit,  to  be 
overseers  (episcopi)  and  deacons  unto  them  that  should  yet  believe 
(in  fulfilment  of  Isaiah  lx.  17).''  In  this  they  were  taking  precau- 
tions against  the  same  sort  of  "jealousy  touching  the  priesthood  "  as 
Moses  had  to  meet  of  old  (xliv.).  "  Likewise  our  Apostles  knew 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  there  would  be  strife  over  the 
dignity  (name)  of  oversight  {episkope).  For  this  cause,  then, 
having  received  complete  foreknowledge,  they  appointed  the  afore- 
said persons ;  and  afterwards  they  made  an  extra  provision, 
whereby,  should  these  fall  asleep,  other  approved  men  might 
succeed  to  their  ministry.  Those  therefore  who  were  appointed 
by  the  former  (i.  e.,  Apostles)  or  afterwards  by  other  (and  dif- 
ferent) men  of  account,1  with  the  consent  of  the  whole  church, 
and  have  ministered  uublameably  to  the  flock  of  Christ  in  lowli- 
ness of  mind,  quietly  and  unassumingly,  and  for  long  time  have 
borne  a  good  character  with  all — to  thrust  out  these  men  from  the 
ministry  we  consider  an  iniquitous  step.  For  it  will  be  no  light 
sin  of  ours,  if  we  thrust  out  from  the  oversight  those  who  have 
offered  the  gifts  unblaraeably  and  holily.  Happy  are  the  pres- 
byters who  have  gone  before,  seeing  that  their  decease  was  in  full 
fruition  :  since  they  have  no  fear  lest  any  remove  them  from  the 
place  to  which  they  were  instituted.  For  we  see  that  you  have 
displaced  certain,  though  men  of  fair  life,  from  the  ministry  of 
honor  which  they  had  blamelessly  enjoyed." 

The  exact  meaning  of  all  this,  including  its  as- 
sumption of  definite  offices  of  Apostolic  origin  on 
lines  akin  to  the  Mosaic  hierarchy,  for  the  develop- 

1 1.  e.,  the  men  of  the  most  weight  in  the  community  {kXX6yt.[ioi 
avdnes,  viri  ornati),  like  the  archisynagogi  among  Jews  of  the  Dis- 
persion, who  were  simply  the  leaders  or  "notables"  of  their 
community  (cf.  Ramsay,  St.  Paul,    p.  257). 


The   Christians'  Sacrifice  of  Prayer.         453 

ment  of  the  ministry  in  the  Apostolic  Age  can  only 
be  seen  when  we  come  to  discuss  church  organiza- 
tion as  a  whole.  Meantime  it  is  enough  to  remark 
that  what  concerns  the  Romans  is  simply  the  per- 
manence in  office  (in  the  interests  of  order  conceived 
as  a  mark  of  Divine  method)  of  those  once  duly  con. 
stituted  office-bearers.  There  is  no  reference  to  any 
specific  ministerial  grace  as  conveyed  by  appoint- 
ment even  in  the  approved  fashion.  We  have  already 
seen  the  conception  of  worship  implied  in  the  Roman 
letter  in  connection  with  the  Eucharistic  prayers  and 
gifts.  The  spiritual  reality  in  all  this,  the  trustful 
and  loving  homage  of  the  heart,  was  conceived  to  be 
offered  in  heaven  to  the  Father  through  the  medium 
of  "  Jesus  Christ  the  High  Priest  of  our  offerings,  the 
Patron  of  our  souls  "  (lxi.,  lxiv.,  xxxvi.).  This  beauti- 
fully simple  idea  of  the  Christians'  sacrifice  as 
praise,  expressed  both  in  word  and  gift,  dominated 
Christianity  in  all  its  primitive  forms.  It  is  stated 
with  great  boldness  in  the  words  :  "  He  (the  Master) 
desireth  not  aught  of  any  man,  save  to  confess  unto 
Him.  As  saith  the  elect  David,  /  ivill  confess  unto 
the  Lord,  and  it  shall  please  Him  more  than  a  young 
calf.  .  .  .  Sacrifice  to  God  a  sacrifice  of  praise, 
and  pay  thy  vows  to  the  Most  High.  .  .  .  For  a 
sacrifice,  unto  God  is  a  broken  spirit."  But,  further,  it 
is  illustrated  by  the  fine  prayer  actually  given  in 
chapter  lix.,  parts  of  which  may  be  cited  as  samples 
at  once  of  the  type  of  liturgical  prayer  then  in  use  in 
the  Roman  Church  and  of  the  public  prayer  in  the 
later  Apostolic  Age  generally. 


454  The  Apostolic  Age. 

"And  we  will  ask  with  strenuous  prayer  and  supplication  that 
the  Creator  of  the  universe  may  guard  intact  to  the  end  the  num- 
ber of  His  elect  throughout  the  whole  world,  through  His  he- 
loved  Sou,  Jesus  Christ:  through  whom  He  called  us  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  from  ignorance  to  the  full  knowledge  of  the  glory 
of  His  Name  (cf.  the  Eucharistic  Prayers  of  the  Didache',  ix.,  x.), 
to  set  our  hope  upon  Thy  Name,  the  primal  source  of  all  creation, 
opening  the  eyes  of  our  hearts,  that  we  may  know  Thee,  who 
alone  abidest  Highest  in  the  highest,  Holy  in  the  holies *  .  .  .  ; 
who  alone  art  the  Benefactor  of  spirits  and  the  God  of  all  flesh  ; 
the  Succor  of  them  that  are  in  peril,  the  Saviour  of  them  that  are 
in  despair;  the  Creator  and  Overseer  (Episcopus)  of  every  spirit; 
who  .  .  .  hast  chosen  out  from  all  men  those  that  love  Thee 
through  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  beloved  Son,  through  whom  Thou 
didst  instruct  us,  sanctify  us,  honor  us.  We  beseech  Thee,  Lord 
and  Master,  to  be  our  help  and  succor.  Save  those  among  us  who 
are  in  tribulation  ;  show  mercy  to  the  lowly  ;  lift  up  the  fallen  ; 
appear  in  aid  of  the  needy ;  heal  the  sick ;  turn  back  the  wander- 
ers of  Thy  people  ;  feed  the  hungry  ;  release  our  prisoners ;  raise 
up  the  weak  ;  comfort  the  faint-hearted.  Let  all  the  Gentiles  recog- 
nize Thee,  that  Thou  art  God  alone,  and  Jesus  Christ  Thy  Serv- 
ant (7ra!?,  as  in  Did.  ix.,  x.),  and  we  Thy  people  and  the  sheep  of 
Thy  pasture. ' ' 2 

Then  follows  adoration  of  God's  majesty,  wisdom, 
and  goodness  revealed  in  His  works,  culminating  in 
reliance  on  His  forgiving  grace.  And  finally  they 
beseech  their  "  heavenly  Master,  King  of  the  ages," 
so  to  guide  the  world's  rulers  in  peace  and  gentle- 
ness that  they  may  obtain  the  Divine  favor.  How 
different  is  their  tone  towards  the  Empire  from  that 

1  In  what  follows  we  italicize  the  echoes  of  phrases  from  the 
Septuagint,  including  the  Apocrypha. 

2Cf.  lxiv.,  "Finally  may  the  All-Seeing  God  and  Master  of 
spirits  and  Lord  of  all  flesh,  who  chose  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  us  through  Him  for  a  peculiar  people,  grant  unto  every  soul 
that  hath  called  upon  His  excellent  Name,  etc." 


Origin  of  Liturgical  Prayer.  455 

which  breathes  in  John's  Apocalypse  !  Since  then 
Christian  faith  had  learned  to  discern  the  more  ex- 
cellent way  of  victory  over  the  world.  But  it  is 
very  striking  to  overhear  such  sentiments  in  a 
church  in  which  were  not  a  few  who  had  seen  Nero's 
brutalities,  which  was  just  breathing  afresh  after  the 
onslaught  of  a  Domitian,  the  "second  Nero,"  and 
which  had  yet  cause  to  pray  for  its  "  prisoners  "  and 
those  in  tribulation.  Here  indeed  is  the  "  self-re- 
straint" (bneOteta)  so  frequently  commended  to  the 
Corinthians  in  the  body  of  the  letter. 

When  we  enquire  as  to  the  antecedents  of  this 
majestic  outpouring,  we  find  the  best  answer,  sup- 
ported also  by  certain  affinities  to  the  Eucharistic 
prayers  of  the  Didache,  in  the  Synagogal  prayers. 
Of  these,  the  Prayer  (Tephillah)  of  "  The  Eighteen  " 
(Shemoneh  Esreh)  benedictions  supplies  a  number  of 
parallels:  and  if  only  we  knew  more  of  the  exact 
form  of  Jewish  prayers  in  the  first  century,  we  might 
find  yet  more  such  echoes.  This  is  highly  instruct- 
ive as  bearing  on  the  origin  of  liturgical  prayer  in 
the  Church.  The  sense  of  the  Spirit  as  operative  in 
each  and  all  church  meetings  for  worship  and  fellow- 
ship, tended  in  itself  to  foster  free  spontaneity  l  in 
prayer  rather  than  the  use  of  set  forms.  But  where 
men  were  familiar  with  certain  dignified  forms  of 
words  from  their  synagogal  days,  there  would  be  a 

1  So  at  first,  and  for  a  considerable  time,  more  personal 
and  emotional  forms  of  praise  also  entered  into  Christian  worship 
(e.  g.,  1  Cor.  xiv.  14  ff.,  26  ;  cf.  Eph.  v.  19,  following  on  "  Be  filled 
with  Spirit,"  also  Col.  iii.  16  and  1  Thess.  v.  19  f.),  in  which 
women  also  took  part  at  Corinth  at  least,  1  Cor.  xi.  4  f.  13. 


456  The  Apostolic  Age. 

strong  tendency  for  these  to  enter  as  a  moulding 
factor  into  all  sustained  adoration  and  common 
prayer.  And  so  quite  naturally  would  arise  more  or 
less  fixed  local  types  of  liturgical  tradition.  These 
no  doubt  varied  a  good  deal  in  form  and  in  the  dates 
at  which  they  took  shape  in  various  regions :  and  it 
is  certain  that  the  older  type  of  free  prayer  long 
continued  side  by  side  with  this  growing  fixity.1 

The  letter  is  that  of  a  church  which  had  felt  the 
influence  of  the  two  leading  apostles,  Paul  and 
Peter,  and  that  without  having  been  founded  by 
either.  It  had  its  roots  in  the  average  Christian 
piety  which  tended  to  spring  up  where  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  the  Messiah  fell  into  Hellenistic  soil,  a  soil 
composed  of  Jewish  and  Grseco -Roman  elements. 
Thus  it  has  much  in  common  with  the  Didache,  par- 
ticularly in  its  liturgical  prayer  already  cited.  On 
this  stalk  were  grafted,  in  the  cosmopolitan  life  of 
the  world's  capital,  all  the  distinctive  Apostolic  types 
of  teaching  save  the  Johannine,  which  does  not  seem 
as  yet  to  have  spread  to  Rome.  But,  as  was  natural 
where  the  mind  was  already  more  or  less  preoccu- 
pied, the  genius  of  these  different  aspects  of  the 
Christian  salvation  was  but  imperfectly  realized, 
particularly  in  the  case  of  the  deepest  of  them,  the 
Pauline. 

But,  after  all,  every  epistle  is  the  work  of  some 

1  Cf.  Justin,  Apology  i.  67,  iu  the  case  of  the  officer  presiding  at 
the  Eucharist.  Similarly  as  regards  adoration  in  song,  which  at 
Christian  soeial  feasts  at  least  survived  to  the  end  of  the  second 
century  in  the  primitive  form  of  individual  outpourings  in  God's 
praise  (Tertullian,  Apol.  39,  cf.  Eph.  v.  18,  19). 


Clement  of  Rome.  457 


one  man  in  the  last  resort.  Trustworthy  tradition 
calls  its  author  Clement,  not  Paul's  friend,  but  the 
Clement  named  with  honor  in  a  Roman  work  of  the 
next  generation,  the  Shepherd  of  Hernias,  and  placed 
third  on  Irenseus'  list  of  Roman  bishops  (180  A.  D.). 
The  style  of  the  letter  itself  shows  how  at  home  he 
was  with  the  Greek  Old  Testament :  but  this  does 
not  prove  him  to  have  been  a  Jew.  At  any  rate  his 
standpoint  and  temper  are  so  Roman  as  to  go  against 
the  view  that  he  was  of  pure  Jewish  birth.  His 
name  suggests  that  he  was  a  dependent  of  the  family 
of  the  Caesars  in  one  of  its  branches,  perhaps  that  of 
Flavius  Clemens,  the  consul.  Perhaps  he  had  known 
Paul  and  Peter  personally :  for  his  phrase  "  our 
good  Apostles  "  has  a  ring  of  personal  affection  about 
it. 

He  seems  to  have  been,  among  other  things,  church 
secretary ;  since  this  is  the  function  assigned  to  him 
by  Hermas,  when  he  says  that  it  is  Clement's  duty 
to  correspond  with  foreign  cities.  But  this  did  not 
make  him  the  bishop  in  the  later  sense ;  and  indeed 
Hermas  clearly  implies  that  the  Roman  Church  of 
the  next  generation  was  still  governed  by  a  plural- 
ity of  presbyter-bishops.  Hence  we  must  think  of 
Clement,  and  still  more  of  his  predecessors  in  the 
episcopal  list,  namely  Linus  (cf.  2  Tim.  iv.  21)  and 
Anencletus,  simply  as  men  who  by  force  of  charac- 
ter and  gifts  stood  out  more  prominently  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Church  than  their  colleagues  in  the 
presbytery.  Thus  they  were  later  assumed  to  have 
been  bishops  in  the  sense  of  belonging  to  a  distinct 
rank  or  order  of  ministry,  like  the  Ignatian  bishop, 


458  The  Apostolic  Age. 

of  whom  we  have  no  clear  trace  in  Europe  for  a 
generation  after  Clement's  day. 

But  though  Clement  was  not  the  bishop  of  Rome, 
he  was  to  the  Church  of  the  following  centuries  far 
more:  he  became  the  typical  "disciple  of  Apostles," 
the  man  in  whom  Apostolic  traditions  in  doctrine 
and  discipline  took  fixed  shape  for  the  future.  This 
idea  underlies  a  large  literature  which  gradually  grew 
up  around  his  name,  a  literature  not  confined  to 
"  Catholic  "  circles.  As,  then,  this  reputation  of  his 
rested  largely  upon  the  wide  approval  which  this 
letter  won  for  itself,1  it  is  worthy  of  our  special  at- 
tention as  typical  of  the  Christianity  prevalent  in 
certain  influential  churches,2  as  the  first  century 
passed  over  into  the  second.  Its  relation  to  Apos- 
tolic teaching  has  just  been  noticed.  As  regards  its 
religious  attitude,  Lightfoot  well  remarks  that 
"  Christianity  was  not  a  philosophy  with  Clement," 
as  it  often  tended  to  become  in  the  Gnostics  and 
Apologists  of  the  second  century.  "  It  consisted  of 
truths  which  should  inspire  the  conscience  and  mould 
the  life  :  but  we  are  not  led  by  his  language  and  sen- 
timents to  believe  that  he  put  these  truths  in  their 
relations  to  one  another,  and  viewed  them  as  a  con- 
nected whole.  In  short,  there  is  no  dogmatic  system 
in  Clement "  :  Christianity  was  as  yet  in  the  pre  dog- 
matic or  strictly  religious  phase. 

1  At  one  time  it  was  practically  put  on  a  level  with  the  Apos- 
tolic writings  now  forming  the  New  Testament,  being  read  in 
public  worship  "  in  very  many  churches." 

2  It  is  echoed,  for  instance,  in  the  letter  of  Polycarp  of  Smyrna 
to  Philippi,  fifteen  or  twenty  years  after. 


BOOK  IV. 

Church  Life  and  Doctrine. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Church  Fellowship. 


HE  Ecclesia,  the  visible  embodiment  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth,  was  at 
first  conceived  as  the  nucleus  of  a  reno- 
vated Israel,  a  community  truly  sancti- 
fied to  God.  Being  viewed,  then,  by  Pal- 
estinian Christians  on  essentially  Jewish  lines,  its 
institutions  took  their  first  shape  under  the  influence 
of  that  idea.  Indeed  the  Jerusalem  Ecclesia  never 
acted  as  other  than  part  of  existing  Israel,  the  part 
specially  sanctified  by  faith  in  the  Messiah  who  was 
coming  again  to  transform  Judaism  into  the  King- 
dom of  God  in  very  truth.  Thus  they  simply  added 
to  their  old  usages  connected  with  Temple  and  Law 
those  of  the  inner  and  purer  fellowship  inspired  by 
Jesus  their  Messiah.  This  caused  some  confusion  in 
many  minds  as  to  essentials  and  non-essentials,  the 
new  realities  and  what  were  rapidly  becoming  mere 
shadows.    The  dangers  of  this  indeterminate  attitude 

459 


460  The  Apostolic  Age. 

come  out  clearly  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  But 
the  new  wine  was  in  many  quarters  straining  the  old 
wineskins  to  bursting,  a  stage  quickly  reached  out- 
side Palestine,  as  at  Antioch.  There  arose  a  new  and 
more  purely  Christian  type  of  ecclesia,  the  foster- 
mother  of  "  the  ecclesice  of  the  Gentiles  "  whose  col- 
lective being  constituted,  along  with  the  churches  in 
Judaea  of  more  national  hue,  the  one  Ecclesia  of  the 
living  God,  the  elect  first-fruits  of  the  Father's  re- 
demptive purpose  in  His  Son,  Jesus  the  Christ. 

Salvation,  then,  on  its  more  human  or  tangible 
side,  was  fellowship  in  the  sacred  society  of  the  Ee- 
clesia,  assumed  to  imply  a  share  also  in  the  favor  and 
fellowship  of  the  heavenly  Father  through  His  Christ. 
This  twofoldness  of  the  salvation,  in  relation  to  God 
and  to  His  people,  runs  through  all  the  life  and 
usages  of  the  primitive  Church :  and  we  must  try  to 
exhibit  them  as  vital  expressions  of  the  same.  This 
may  be  done  by  tracing  the  course  of  an  individual's 
experience  of  Church  fellowship  in  the  Apostolic 
Age. 

Imagine  a  Jewish  youth  sent  like  Saul  of  Tar- 
sus to  Jerusalem,  about  35  A.  D.  He  has  been 
trained  under  the  Law,  and  has  become  alive  to  his 
need  of  a  salvation  it  cannot  bestow.  He  hears  the 
gospel  of  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  towards 
Jesus  as  his  Messiah :  he  surrenders  his  heart  to  the 
message  and  declares  his  faith  to  some  disciple.  He 
is  welcomed  as  already  a  brother  in  the  Lord ;  for 
"  no  man  can  call  Jesus  Lord  "  with  a  sincere  heart, 
"but  by  the  Holy  Spirit."  But  full  recognition  as  a 
member  of  the  holy  society  of  Christ's  elect  waits 


Baptism.  461 

upon  his  baptism.  He  accepts  baptism,1  so  formally 
"  washing  away  his  sins,  calling  on  Christ's  name." 
This  rite  gives  him  valid  status  in  the  eyes  of  his 
brethren  and  in  his  own  eyes  as  a  regular  member  of 
the  Ucclesia,  with  all  privileges  and  duties  attaching 
thereto.  Henceforth  he  is  known  as  one  justified,  or 
in  conscious  favor  with  God — a  "  saint "  consecrated 
to  His  ends,  the  ends  of  the  Kingdom. 

For  consecration  was  the  main  idea  of  baptism. 
Like  most,  if  not  all,  sacred  washings  of  antiquity,  it 
had  indeed  two  aspects,  purification/row  a  sinful  state 
and  unto  a  holy  state  in  the  future.2  But  it  was  on 
the  latter  aspect  that  the  stress  of  Christian  baptism 
lay,  as  indicated  by  the  prepositions  added  to  define 
its  scope.3  It  is  "baptism  unto"  or  with  reference  to 
the  name  of  Christ,  that  is,  purificatory  consecration 
to  Him  and  His  service  (cf.  Did.  ix.  5).  So  Paul 
speaks  of  "  baptism  "  or  consecration  "  unto  Christ," 
as  elsewhere  of  the  Israelites  as  having  "  baptized 
themselves  unto  Moses,"  i.  e.,  the  Mosaic  revelation 
of  God's  will4  (Gal.  iii.  27;  Rom.  vi.  3;  1  Cor.  x.  2). 

1  The  personal  appropriation  denoted  by  the  Middle  Voice  in 
Greek  is  of  the  essence  of  the  idea  (Acts  xxii.  16  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  11, 
cf.  x.  2). 

2  This  is  very  noticeable  in  the  sacred  washings  of  the  Essenes. 
These  took  place  preparatory  to  their  daily  meals  which  were  con- 
ceived of  as  holy  to  God,  being  consecrated  with  solemn  prayer. 

3  The  need  for  distinguishing  the  Christian's  washing  as  a"  puri- 
fication "  once  for  all,  with  abiding  results,  is  seen  from  Heb.  vi. 
2,  John  iii.  25,  where  different  and  rival  types  of  purificatory 
washings  are  in  question  (cf.  Luke  ii.  22-24  for  the  close  connec- 
tion of  the  ideas  of  purification  and  consecration). 

4  "Baptism  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ"  (e.  g.,  Acts  ii.  38) 
means  baptism  with  the  use  of  His  name  in  the  confession  made, 


462  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Later  on  the  name  employed,  as  we  saw  in  the 
Didache,  was  the  threefold  name  of  the  Divine  Per- 
sons active  in  man's  salvation  (cf.  2  Cor.  xiii.  13 ; 
Matt,  xxviii.  19).  In  all  this,  the  end  in  view  is  the 
thing  emphasized,  the  verb  baptizdn  having  in  its  sa- 
cred use  lost  much  of  its  original  sense  of  "  to  wash 
thoroughly,"  and  taken  on  rather  the  special  sense  of 
"  consecrate  by  washing." l  An  excellent  illustration 
of  this,  as  connected  with  the  high  vocation  of  the 
Christian,  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  Egyptian  sov- 
ereigns were  before  coronation  baptized  for  the  regal 
status.  An  inscription  addresses  Hatshepsu  thus : 
"  Thou  art  purified,  with  thy  ka  (higher  self),  for  thy 
great  dignity  of  King  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt." 
So  was  the  humble  Christian  purified  for  the  dignity 
of  "  king  and  priest  unto  God." 

It  was  a  common,  though  not  universal,  experience 
for  the  convert  to  receive  in  the  act  of  solemn  self- 
dedication  an  enhanced  sense  of  the  realities  of  his 
faith,  leading  to  outward  manifestations  of  spiritual 
enthusiasm  known  as  speaking  with  tongues  and 
prophesying.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  said  to  "  fall " 
on  a  man,  as  on  the  assembled  disciples  at  Pentecost. 

"invoking  His  name,"  as  Ananias  says  to  Saul.  The  words  sug- 
gested by  Acts  ii.  38  would  be,  "I  believe  in  the  forgiveness  of 
sins  through  Jesus  Christ,"  or  the  like.  So  in  1  Cor.  xii.  13,  "  we 
were  all  baptized  unto  (with  a  view  to  become)  oue  body." 

'No  one  has  seen  this  more  clearly  than  Mr.  J.  Tyeth  Hart 
(author  of  The  Maze  and  Us  Clue  and  other  works  on  the  subject), 
whose  exposures  of  the  fallacy  of  arguing  from  non-religions  uses 
of  laptizo,  and  from  lapto  at  all,  deserve  recognition.  "  According 
to  Jewish  usage,"  he  says,  "and  Scripture  statement,  a  Baptism 
is  a  ceremonial  washing, proximately  of  purification,  but  ultimately 
and  dominantly  of  separation  and  designation  for  some  special  end." 


Confirmation.  463 


This  phenomenon  was  not  indeed  bound  up  with 
baptism  at  all.  In  the  case  of  Cornelius  and  his 
friends  it  accompanied  the  first  quickening  of  their 
faith,  and  emboldened  Peter  to  order  their  baptism, 
since  they  had  already  received — contrary  to  expec- 
tation, they  being  mere  Gentiles — the  unction  of  the 
Holy  One,  the  specific  Messianic  gift  (Acts.  ii.  16 
ff.,  33,  after  Joel  ii.  28  ff.).  The  people  of  the 
Lord's  Anointed  were  themselves  anointed  ones, 
according  to  Old  Testament  language.  But  such 
"  sealing "  of  His  people  by  the  Spirit  "  poured 
forth  "  from  the  Father  through  Messiah's  agency 
(Eph.  i.  13  f.;  Acts  ii.  33),  was  commonly  l  manifested 
at  baptism  in  the  earlier  Apostolic  days.  In  Paul's 
epistles  we  get  less  trace  of  it  in  this  form.  He 
directs  attention  rather  to  the  Spirit  of  adoption  sent 
forth  in  the  heart,  crying  "  Abba,  Father,"  a  matter 
of  inward  experience,  the  Divine  side  as  it  were  of 
faith. 

Such  divine  ratification  (Rom.  viii.  15,  16)  of  the 
believer's  Sonship,  whether  at  the  moment  of  faith 
or  at  its  symbolic  affirmation  in  baptism,  has  no 
relation  to  the  later  rite  of  confirmation.  Of  this 
there  is  no  sign  for  a  century  after  the  Apostolic 
Age,  Justin  Martyr  giving  no  hint  of  it  in  his  care- 
ful account  of  baptism,  about  150  A.  D.  In  its 
modern  Western  form  it  is  a  corollary  of  infant 
baptism,  of  which  there  is  not  a  trace  in  the  Apostolic 
Age  or  indeed  till  the  end  of  the  second  century. 
The  view  that  it  is  in  any  way  an  integral  part  of 

1  There  are  no  signs  of  it  in  the  cases  of  the  Eunuch  and  of 
Saul. 


464  The  Apostolic  Age. 

baptism  rests  on  a  misapprehension  of  the  fact  that 
in  a  few  special  cases  in  Acts  the  "  falling  "  of  the 
Spirit  on  the  baptized  is  connected  with  the  laying-on 
of  Apostolic  hands.  The  cases  are  exceptional.  In 
that  of  the  Samaritans  it  is  clearly  regarded  as 
abnormal  that  the  Spirit  had  not  shown  His  presence 
in  those  who  had  believed  and  been  baptized :  and 
the  case  is  recorded  to  show  how  Apostles  came 
down  to  sanction  the  opening  of  the  Kingdom  to  a 
new  class,  as  with  Cornelius  and  his  friends,  where 
the  Spirit  led  the  way  to  the  wider  opening  of  the 
door,  and  that  prior  even  to  baptism.  And  the  case 
of  the  imperfectly  evangelized  disciples  at  Ephesus 
is  of  a  like  nature.  In  normal  evangelization,  where 
no  new  departure  was  in  question,  Apostolic  laying- 
on  of  hands — the  outward  symbol  of  spiritual  identi- 
fication with  another  in  invoking  blessing  on  him  1 
— was  not  held  needful. 

Once  baptized,  our  Christian  finds  himself  a  full 
member  of  a  brotherhood,  the  intimacy  of  whose 
44  fellowship "  (fioivtovia)  far  surpassed  anything  he 
had  ever  dreamed.  Its  atmosphere  was  love :  its 
watchword  community  of  interest.  Hence  a  strange 
exultation  of  spirit,  the  guerdon  of  love.  All 
human  relations  were  transfigured,  raised  to  a  new 
power  of  dignity  and  sweetness. 

1  For  this  conjunction  see  Acts  viii.  15,  17,  also  ix.  17,  where 
Ananias  takes  part  in  Saul's  restoration  to  sight  (cf.  James  v.  14), 
and  xiii.  3,  the  dimission  of  Barnabas  and  Saul.  Heb.  vi.  2  sug- 
gests that  the  baptizer  laid  his  hand  on  the  baptized  when  in- 
voking God's  blessing  in  acceptance  of  the  now  consecrated  life. 
Had  this  been  confined  to  Apostles,  Paul  would  have  written  more 
guardedly  in  1  Cor.  i.  14-17. 


The  Eucharist.  405 


Ties  stronger  than  those  of  blood  made  him  brother 
to  all  the  younger  fellow-members,  and  son  to  all  the 
elder — in  keeping  with  a  natural  distinction  x  upon 
which  Jewish  society  rested  and  which  entered 
deeply  into  the  church  life  of  the  Apostolic  Age. 
He  saw  this  deep  fellowship  taking  effect  in  the  way 
in  which  those  who  had  means  shared  them  with 
those  who  lacked,  as  being  already  co-heirs  in  the 
greater  things  of  eternity  (cf.  Did.  iv.  8).  But  it 
was  about  the  family  board,  where  brethren  in  the 
household  of  faith  were  welcomed  with  sacred  joy, 
that  the  fellowship  to  which  baptism  admitted 
reached  its  crown.  Here  the  housefather,  reverently 
taking  the  creatures  of  the  heavenly  Father's  bounty, 
blessed  with  words  of  thanksgiving,  and  distributed 
among  the  company  in  remembrance  of  Him  whose 
return  was  at  first  daily  expected.  Then  did  hearts 
burn  and  eyes  fill  with  tears  of  love  and  joy.  For 
was  it  not  the  Lord's  Supper  that  they  kept?  At 
such  Eucharists  the  convert  would  hear  prayers  of 
the  type  preserved  in  our  Didache,  which,  read  in  the 
light  of  Acts  ii.  42,  46,  points,  back  to  the  probable 
origin  and  associations  of  the  first  Lord's  Supper. 
And  here  a  quotation  may  clear  up  several  points. 

"In  its  origin  the  Eucharist  was  not  only  lay,  but  domestic, 
and  in  the  evening.  To  this  day  every  pious  Jew  gathers  his 
household  at  a  table  every  Friday  evening  (Sabbath  eve),  and  on 
the  eves  of  the  great  festivals:  blesses,  sips,  and  distributes  a  cup 
of  wine :  after  which  he  takes  a  piece  of  bread,  blesses  it,  partakes 
of  it,  and  distributes  it  to  all  present.     The  service  is  called  the 

1  1  Tim.  iv.  1  f. ;  cf.  Acts  ii.  17,  v.  6 ;  1  Pet.  v.  1,  5;  1  John  ii.  12 
ff.  ;  1  Clement,  as  above,  p.  444 ;  Poly  carp,  iv.,  v. 
DD 


466  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Sanctification,  and  is  an  act  of  thanksgiving  (Eucharist)  for  cre- 
ation and  all  the  blessings  of  this  life.  The  Chief  Eabbi  once 
said  in  a  letter  to  me,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  custom  was 
in  use  in  the  time  of  Christ.  It  explains  some  expressions  of  St. 
Paul  and  St.  Luke,1  especially  the  words,  'As  oft  as  ye  drink  iU' 
Apart  from  this  custom  of  weekly,  and  indeed  more  frequent 
Eucharist,  we  might  have  thought  that  the  Christian  Eucharist 
was  meant  to  be  annual  like  the  Passover.  But  our  Lord  assumed 
that  His  disciples  would  'drink  of  it '  'as  often  '  after  His  death 
as  they  did  before.  And  accordingly  we  find  the  Eucharist 
passed  into  Christian  use,  not  as  a  rare  and  unusual  interruption 
or  an  addition  to  their  ordinary  worship,  but  as  often  as  they  came 
together  in  the  Church.  Nay,  the  first  converts  at  Jerusalem* 
seem  to  have  retained  the  domestic  character  of  the  Eucharist ; 
for  they  are  described  as  continuing  steadfastly  with  one  accord 
in  the  Temple,  and  breaking  bread  at  home.  .  .  .  The  head 
of  every  household  continued  to  do  for  himself  and  his  household 
what  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  before,  only  with  a  new  and 
additional  meaning  which  Christ  had  given  to  it — adding  the 
Eucharist  of  Eedemption  to  that  of  Creation."  2 

"  How  this  touching  observance  passed  from  the 
Christian  home  to  the  Christian  synagogue  Scripture 
does  not  tell  us,  though  we  may  conjecture."  Per- 
haps not  till  Christianity  passed  beyond  Jerusalem  ; 
for  it  is  doubtful  whether  Messiah's  disciples  there 
formed  regular  synagogues  before  70  A.  D. 

In   any  case   the   larger   Eucharistic   gatherings, 

1  To  the  point  adduced  I  would  add  two.  (1)  It  explains  the 
order  of  the  Eucharist  in  the  DidacJie,  supported  by  Luke's 
Gospel,  namely  first  cup,  then  bread.  (2)  It  may  even  help  to 
reconcile  the  Synoptic  and  Johannine  account  of  the  date  and 
nature  of  the  Last  Supper  ;  that  is,  if  we  may  suppose  that  this 
Sanctification  meal  was  reckoned  part  of  the  Feast  which  it  pre- 
ceded. For  if  so,  we  can  easily  imagine  this  preliminary  Paschal 
meal  becoming  confused  in  tradition  with  the  Paschal  meal  proper. 
John,  the  eyewitness,  alone  avoids  the  confusion. 

2  Canon  Foxley,  Contemporary  Review,  Feb.  1899,  p.  181. 


Domestic  Eucharists,  and  Agapse.  467 

whenever  and  however  they  came  about,  were  still 
of  the  nature  of  family  gatherings.  We  must  needs 
suspect  that  each  house-church,  such  as  that  under 
Aquila's  roof  in  Rome  (where  there  were  also  other 
similar  groups  connected  with  large  households),  had 
its  own  sacred  "  breaking  of  bread  "  or  Eucharistic 
meal,  in  addition  to  a  common  one  whenever  a  meet- 
ing of  the  whole  local  ecclesia  was  possible.  i  In  the 
same  direction  points  the  fact  that  Ignatius,  writing 
to  certain  churches  of  Asia  early  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, has  to  insist  on  the  duty  of  having  only  one 
Eucharist,  that  where  the  bishop  is  present  (ad 
Philad.  iv.) — as  if  there  was  an  older  usage  making 
people  insensible  to  the  full  importance  of  such  out- 
ward unity.  This  latter  instinct  no  doubt  made, 
from  the  first,  for  one  central  or  common  Eucharist 
so  far  as  feasible  :  and  at  this  the  presidency  was 
more  official  than  in  the  case  of  smaller  units.  But 
more  we  cannot  say,  during  St.  Paul's  lifetime  at 
any  rate. 

There  is  no  solid  ground  for  distinguishing,  for  the 

1  Iu  Rom.  xvi.,  after  saluting  Prisca  and  Aquila  and  the  ecclesia 
meeting  at  their  house,  Paul  goes  on  to  salute  a  number  of 
groups,  such  as  the  households  of  Aristobulus  and  Narcissus, 
and  all  the  saints  associated  with  certain  individuals.  These 
must  have  formed  inner  circles  of  church  life,  even  supposing 
they  could  at  times  all  meet  in  a  central  gathering.  Similarly  in 
1  Cor.  xvi.  19  f.,  the  church  meeting  at  Aquila's  house  does  not 
exhaust  "the  brethren  one  and  all."  Such  relatively  self-con- 
tained groups  would  not  preclude  a  corporate  feeling  of  unity ;  for 
their  separateness  was  much  less  than  that  of  the  several  Jewish 
synagogues  which  yet  formed  one  community.  But  it  would 
mean  that  at  first  there  was  little  distinction  between  leaders  and 
rank  and  file. 


468  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

same  period  and  even  long  after,  the  Eucharist  from 
the  sacred  meal,  called  in  1  Cor.  xi.  the  "  Lord's 
Supper,"  save  as  the  culminating  stage  of  such  fel- 
lowship. For  Paul  implies  of  the  same  occasion  to 
which  the  Words  of  Institution  were  appropriate,  that 
it  was  possible  to  eat  greedily  or  be  drunken.  Those 
who  had  means  brought  their  contributions  in  kind 
to  the  feast  (as  in  a  Greek  eranos  or  subscription- 
supper).  In  these  all  expected  to  participate ; 
though  at  Corinth  selfishness  actually  allowed  some 
to  go  away  fasting  from  a  meal  which  came  in  some 
Greek  Churches  to  be  named  after  its  animating 
idea  of  Love  (Agape).  Part  too  was  reserved  for 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  especially  widows  and  or- 
phans. Thus  the  whole  of  such  "  gifts "  were  con- 
ceived as  a  sacrifice  to  God,  because  devoted  to  His 
uses, l  and  solemnly  offered  to  Him  in  prayers  of 
Thanksgiving  (Eucharist)  or  Blessing  (Eulogiii)  for 
His  bounty  in  Creation  and  in  Redemption.  It  was 
forgetfulness  of  the  latter  associations,  bound  up 
with  the  Last  Supper  and  the  redemptive  Death 
then  foreshadowed  as  the  condition  of  future  feasts 
of  glad  thanksgiving,  that  probably  underlay  the 
abuses  at  Corinth.     But  this  very  fact  shows  that 


1  The  primitive  idea  of  the  Christian  sacrifice,  the  Church's 
"gifts,"  is  found  in  the  Sibylline  Oracles,  viii.  399  ff.;  "To  Him 
set  up  a  pure  and  bloodless  table,  full  of  good  things,  and  give  to 
the  hungry  bread  and  to  the  thirsty  drink  .  .  .  supplying 
them  with  holy  hands  from  thine  own  toils."  So  Polycarp  finely 
calls  widows  "God's  altar,"  on  which  the  sacrifice  (Ooeia)  of  His 
people's  gratitude  was  to  be  offered  pure,  i.  e.,  in  love  without 
discord,  as  we  see  from  Did.  xv.  In  another  sense  Jesus  Christ  is 
Himself  the  (one)  altar,  as  in  Ign.  ad  Magn.  vii. 


Pliny's  Report.  469 


the  same  feast  was  at  once  a.  social  meal  and  the 
Communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Christ,  i.  e., 
the  feeding  upon  His  Word  and  Spirit, l  symbolized 
first  by  His  Body  and  Blood  and  then  by  the  ele- 
ments of  daily  food. 

There  was,  then,  but  one  sacred  Christian  feast 
having  various  aspects,  the  emphasis  on  which  seems 
to  have  varied  in  different  circles ;  and  it  was  held, 
like  the  Last  Supper,  in  the  evening.  Such  was  the 
case  at  Troas  about  56  A.  D.  So  was  it  also  half  a 
century  later,  when  Ignatius  uses  "  Eucharist "  and 
Agape  as  synonymous2;  while  Pliny's  letter  shows  it 
to  have  been  held  in  the  evening.  This  letter,  the 
official  report  of  the  governor  of  Bithynia  to  his 
master  Trajan  c.  112  A.  D.,  gives  us  a  vivid  glimpse 
of  Christian  worship  in  that  northwest  quarter  of 
Asia  Minor.  It  is  based  on  confessions  extorted 
from  ex-Christians. 

"They  had  been  wont  to  assemble  on  a  stated  day  (the  Lord's 
day)  before  dawn,  and  recite  responsively  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  to 
a  god,3  and  bind  themselves  with  a  religious  vow  (sacramento) 
not  to  the  commission  of  any  crime,  but  against  theft,  robbery, 
adultery,  breach  of  trust,  denial  of  a  deposit  when  claimed.    This 


1  This  is  clearly  how  Paul  views  the  matter,  as  well  from  his 
comparison  of  the  Christian  food  and  drink  to  the  manna  and  the 
water  from  the  rock,  both  types  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  x.  3  f. ;  so  John 
vi.  32  fif.,  vii.  37  ff.),  as  from  the  words  "we  all  were  given  to 
drink  of  one  Spirit  "  (xii.  13). 

2  To  Philadelphians,  iv.,  and  To  Smyrnseans,  viii.,  in  like  contexts. 

3  So  it  must  mean  in  the  pagan  Pliny's  mouth.  Of  such  primi- 
tive hymns  we  seem  to  have  snatches  in  1  Tim.  iii.  16;  Eph.  v. 
14;  cf.  2  Tim.  ii.  11  f.,  and  perhaps  some  others  of  the  "faithful 
sayings." 


470  The  Apostolic  Age. 

over,  it  was  their  custom  to  separate  and  again  meet  for  a  meal, 
of  an  open  and  innocent  nature;  which  very  thiDg  they  had  ceased 
to  do  after  my  edict,  in  which  by  your  orders  I  forbade  club 
meetings." 

It  is  often,  indeed,  assumed  that  the  Eucharist 
cannot  be  included  in  the  evening  meal  here  in  ques- 
tion ;  otherwise  Christians  would  never  have  given 
it  up,  even  when  it  clashed  with  state  regulations. 
But  the  fact  is  that  those  who  gave  it  up  had  ceased 
to  rank  as  Christians ;  the  edict  was  just  what  had 
severed  them  from  their  bolder  brethren.  Accord- 
ingly we  may  repeat,  that  throughout  the  whole  of 
the  Apostolic  Age  and  even  later  the  Eucharist,  or 
Lord's  Supper  in  our  sense,  was  still  part  of  the 
Church's  sacred  feast  of  fellowship.  It  was  the 
Godward  side  of  the  feast,  and  had  itself  two  aspects. 
On  the  one  hand  Christians  thanked  God  for  the 
gifts  of  Creation,  and  offered  to  Him  therefrom  for 
sacred  ends  "  gifts "  or  "  first-fruits "  of  grateful 
homage,  the  "  sacrifice  "  of  praise.  On  the  other, 
they  blessed  Him  for  gifts  of  grace  in  the  redemp- 
tive life  and  death  of  Christ, l  through  whom  they 
were  heirs  of  life  and  incorruption.  The  former  of 
these  aspects  has  fallen  sadly  into  the  background, 
the  "  sacramental  offering "  for  the  poor  being  the 

1  In  this,  the  specific  Christian  reference,  several  ideas  blended, 
now  one,  now  another,  being  uppermost,  viz :  those  of  (1)  Pass- 
over, (2)  Covenant  Blood  (Ex.  xxiv.  8),  (3)  Sanctifying  or  Aton- 
ing Sacrifice  (cf.  Heb.  x.),  (4)  Spiritual  Food  of  the  regenerate 
(John  vi.).  These  shade  off  into  each  other  the  more  easily 
that,  to  Hebrew  and  ancient  thought  in  general,  "the  notions  of 
Communion  and  Atonement  are  bound  up  together,"  through  the 
piacular  use  of  life  (blood). 


Variation  of  Church  Customs.  471 


only  clear  survival  of  it  in  most  communion  services. 
The  early  morning  service  was  a  simple  devotional 
service  of  praise  and  prayer,  at  which  apparently  the 
Bithynian  Christians  were  wont  solemnly  to  renew 
their  pact  with  God,  first  made  in  baptism,  to  live  a 
consecrated,  pure,  and  honest  life.  Its  spirit  is  ad- 
mirably brought  out  by  Tertullian's  definition  of  the 
Christian  Society  in  his  Apology  at  the  end  of  the 
second  century  (chapter  xxxix.).  "  We  are  a  body 
joined  together  by  a  sense  of  religious  allegiance,  the 
divine  nature  of  our  rule  of  life  (disciplina),  and  the 
bond  of  hope." 

In  considering  the  picture  just  given  of  primitive 
Church  fellowship,  the  mind  inevitably  turns  to 
comparisons  with  our  own  day.  The  contrasts  are 
striking,  and  it  is  vain  to  ignore  them:  but  it  is 
equally  vain  to  condemn  the  later  usages  simply  be- 
cause they  are  not  altogether  as  the  earlier.  So  to 
judge,  is  to  "  turn  the  gospel  into  a  second  Levitical 
code,"  by  "  making  the  Apostolic  history  into  a  set 
of  authoritative  precedents,  to  be  rigorously  copied 
without  regard  to  time  and  place."  But  this  is  to 
forget  that  the  Apostolic  Age  itself  gradually  trans- 
ferred its  allegiance  from  the  Sabbath  to  the  Lord's 
day  :  that  the  gospel  is  the  religion  not  of  the  letter 
but  of  the  Spirit :  that  the  forms  in  which  the  evan- 
gelic life  found  expression  took  shape  spontane- 
ously and  not  as  the  result  of  any  legislative  acts  on 
the  part  of  the  Ecclesia  for  its  own  generation,  much 
less  for  the  many  generations  that  it  never  dreamed 
would  follow  at  all. 


472  The  Apostolic  Age. 

For  the  first  and  most  radical  contrast  is  that  of 
general  outlook.  The  Apostolic  Age  was  instinct 
with  the  belief  that  Christ  would  return  before  the 
generation  of  His  first  witnesses  had  died  away :  and 
much  of  its  aloofness  of  attitude  towards  ordinary 
human  interests,  all  that  may  be  called  culture  as 
distinct  from  sanctity,  was  bound  up  with  this  hu- 
man illusion.  Wider  experience  of  God's  ways  has 
brought  another  and  larger  conception  of  His  coun- 
sels for  His  Kingdom  on  earth.  It  is  received  not 
only  as  sword  and  fire  in  the  moral  order  of  the 
world,  but  also  as  leaven.  In  a  legitimate  sense  the 
Church  is  now  acclimatized  to  its  permanent  place 
and  function  in  society  at  large. 

That  along  with  this  change  of  perspective  should 
go  minor  changes,  was  but  natural.  And  to  such 
modifications  both  the  rites  since  called  Sacraments 
bear  witness.  Infant  baptism  is  not  an  Apostolic 
usage.1  It  is  not  only  that  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in 
the  first  century :  but  the  very  idea  of  baptism  then 
universal,  namely  as  a  rite  of  faith's  self-consecration 
(often  outwardly  ratified  by  manifestations  of  the 
Spirit),  is  inconsistent  therewith.  But  this  does  not 
settle  the  matter.  Infant  baptism  may  be  a  legiti- 
mate development  in  usage,  to  meet  conditions  not 
contemplated  in  the  Apostolic  Age.     From  the  na- 

1  Iu  the  matter  of  outward  form,  whether  immersion  or  affusion 
(copious  sprinkling  over  the  head),  primitive  Christians  were  in- 
different. It  was  mere  matter  of  convenience  {Did.  vii.).  St. 
Paul's  comparison  of  baptism  to  burial,  shows  immersion  to  have 
been  the  usual  method  ;  but  his  deep  mystic  thought  on  the  mat- 
ter was  probably  all  his  own  (Rom.  vi.  2  ff . ;  cf.  1  Pet.  iii.  21,  for 
a  kindred  mystic  idea). 


Status  of  Children.  473 

ture  of  the  case,  at  a  time  when  the  Parousia  filled 
the  Church's  horizon,  the  problem  of  the  status  and 
training  of  the  very  young  would  be  but  little  con- 
sidered. Doubtless  the  child  of  Christian  parents 
was  considered  as  in  a  sense  sanctified  by  its  very 
Christian  parentage  (1  Cor.  vii.  14),  and  was  reared 
"  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord."  But 
the  status  of  such  children  even  in  infancy  had  not  yet 
received  such  attention  as  to  be  defined  by  the  sym- 
bolism of  a  religious  rite.  Yet  once  the  problem  comes 
to  be  faced,  it  is  clear  that  adult  baptism  is  a  different 
thing  for  one  reared  a  pagan  and  for  a  child  of  a 
Christian  home.  In  the  latter  case  it  has  a  belated 
look  that  gives  it  an  artificiality  utterly  alien  to  its 
first  reality.  Accordingly  it  was  natural  to  modify 
the  time  of  the  rite  in  such  cases,  a  modification  which 
should  have  been  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
change  in  the  conception  of  its  relation  to  salvation. 
In  the  case  of  an  adult  believer  it  had  sealed  an  al- 
ready realized  fact : l  in  the  case  of  an  infant  it  could 
be  but  a  symbol  of  its  birthright,  then  and  there  of 
value  to  the  parents  and  to  the  Church,  and  of  high 
pedagogic  value  to  the  child's  opening  consciousness. 
It  is  only  too  probable  that  this  sense  of  the  changed 
meaning  did  not  always  accompany  the  change  in 
the  rite,  when  it  began  to  creep  in  very  slowly  from 
the  end  of  the   second  century.2     But  this  simply 

1  This  was  the  idea  at  the  root  of  the  practice  at  Corinth  of 
vicarious  baptism  for  those  known  to  have  died  as  believers 
(  1  Cor.  xv.  29).  It  also  comes  out  clearly  in  1  Pet.  iii.  21 ;  cf.  Acts 
xv.  9. 

2  The  striking  thing  about  infant  baptism  is  the  slow  and  par- 
tial nature  of  its  advance,  as  if,  in  its  unqualified  sense,  it  violated 
au  older  idea  of  salvation. 


474:  The  Ajwstolic  Age. 

means  that  the  earlier  idea  of  salvation  was  waning. 
In  the  Reformed  communions  of  the  West  at  least 
this  has  been  variously  recognized  by  the  restoration 
of  a  solemn  act  of  personal  confession — by  confirma- 
tion or  otherwise — through  which  the  status  of  full 
church-membership  is  attained. 

A  similar  development  is  seen  in  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. This  is  seldom  noticed,  but  is  none  the  less 
the  fact.  Not  only  has  the  offering  of  the  people's 
gifts  as  sacrifice  of  praise  practically  disappeared, 
but  the  form  of  administration  no  longer  provides  for 
the  social  "  fellowship  "  of  believers  in  the  Agape  or 
Love-feast  aspect  of  the  service.  As  Dr.  Hort  ob- 
serves {Life  and  Letters,  ii.  343)  : 

"The  corporate  communion  was  not  merely  a  universal  char- 
acteristic of  the  Eucharist,  but  its  very  essence.  Before  all  things 
it  is  the  feast  of  a  brotherhood  united  in  a  Divine  Head,  setting 
forth  as  the  fundamental  law  of  their  existence  the  law  of  sacri- 
fice, towards  each  other  and  towards  Him,  which  had  been  made 
a  reality  by  His  supreme  Sacrifice." 

An  attempt  was  made  in  some  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  to  remedy  this  defect,  as  later  in  the  Meth- 
odist "  Love-feast."  But  the  effort  after  exact  repro- 
duction has  not  prospered,  and  that  just  because  it 
was  artificial.  It  too  much  ignored  the  changed 
conditions,  whether  as  to  the  less  domestic  place  of 
church-meeting,  the  larger  members  of  those  partak- 
ing, or  the  sheer  change  in  the  character  of  social 
meals.1  Accordingly  even  those  who  most  scruple 
about  departure  from  Apostolic  models  are  all  uncon- 

1  The  modern  equivalent  of  Agape  fellowship  is  a  Church  "tea- 
meeting"  conducted  in  a  worthy  spirit. 


Spontaneous  Simplicity  of  the  Age.  475 

sciously  guilty  of  what  they  deplore.  The  fact  is  that 
some  changes,  even  material  changes,  in  ecclesias- 
tical usage  are  inevitable.  The  greatest  violation  of 
Apostolic  piety  is  blindly  to  fight  against  this.  For 
the  thing  most  distinctive  of  the  Apostolic  Age  is 
the  spontaneous  simplicity  of  its  usages.  They  were 
simple  only  because  they  were  in  terms  of  current 
habits  and  expressed  the  piety  of  a  simple  gospel. 

In  the  wise  words  of  Dr.  Hort,1  "  the  Apostolic 
Age  is  full  of  embodiments  of  purposes  and  princi- 
ples of  the  most  instructive  kind :  but  the  responsi- 
bility of  choosing  the  means  was  left  forever  to  the 
Ecclesia  itself,  and  to  each  Ecclesia,  guided  by  an- 
cient precedent  on  the  one  hand  and  adaptation  to 
present  and  future  needs  on  the  other.  The  lesson- 
book  of  the  Ecclesia,  and  of  every  Ecclesia,  is  not  a 
law  but  a  history."  Only  let  every  Ecclesia  be  fully 
persuaded  in  its  own  mind  that  it  is  rightly  interpret- 
ing the  very  genius  of  primitive  piety. 

1  The  Christian  Ecclesia  (p.  232  f.),  a  book  to  which  the  reader  is 
referred  for  details  as  to  much  in  this  and  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Organization  and  Discipline. 

|[OST  of  the  materials  for  this  chapter  have 
already  been  laid  before  the  reader  in 
their  proper  historical  connections.  And 
in  essaying  a  connected  summary  of  their 
bearing  on  the  organization  of  the  Ecclesia 
in  the  Apostolic  Age,  it  is  essential  to  keep  their 
special  contexts  steadily  in  mind.  Much  of  the  con- 
fusion marking  theories  of  the  ministry  is  due  to 
neglect  of  this  rule :  the  result  being  the  arbitrary 
juxtaposition  of  facts  which  never  really  existed 
together  in  one  and  the  same  type  of  ecclesia. 
Further  there  are  several  general  considerations 
conducive  to  a  genuinely  historical  reading  of  the 
facts. 

First,  one  must  relate  organization  to  the  spirit  of 
the  life  that  is  organized.  This  was  essentially 
fraternal.  Church  life  was  above  all  things  mutual 
fellowship,  a  cooperation  of  all  the  members  of  each 
ecclesia,  conceived  as  members  of  an  organism  or 
body,  for  the  ends  common  to  all.  These  may  be 
summed  up  as  the  realization  of  the  Christ-life, 
individually  and  collectively.  To  serve  this  end  of 
ends  was  the  vocation  of  each  and  all.  All  min- 
istered thereto  according  to  ability  or  "  gift,"  with 
goods  material  or  spiritual.     This  general  ministry 

476 


The  Ministry.  477 


was  so  realized  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  any 
notion  of  a  regular  ministry  as  distinct  from  the 
Saints  existed  at  all  to  begin  with.  The  distinction 
was  probably  one  which  only  grew  up  as  the  special- 
ization of  functions,  resting  on  gifts,  took  actual 
shape  before  their  eyes. 

This  emphasis  on  the  universality  of  the  minis- 
terial life  sprang  from  a  deep  sense  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  animating  the  Saints,  collectively  and 
individually,  to  a  degree  which  we  can  now  but 
feebly  realize.  To  fail  to  grasp  this  fact  and  per- 
ceive its  moulding  influence  on  all  aspects  of  organ- 
ized Christian  fellowship,  is  simply  to  think  in 
another  world  from  theirs.  The  major  premiss  of 
every  true  conclusion  as  to  the  ministry  of  the 
Apostolic  Age  must  be  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit, 
hailed  by  Peter  at  Pentecost  as  the  mark  of  the 
Messianic  times.  In  it  Moses'  ideal  that  all  the 
Lord's  people  should  be  prophets  was  in  substance 
fulfilled.  Accordingly  in  their  worship,  as  we  see 
from  1  Cor.  xiv.,  any  believer  was  free  to  edify  his 
fellows  by  "psalm,  teaching,  revelation,  tongue, 
interpretation,"  as  well  as  prayer  or  Eucharist. 
Whatever  limitations  expediency  came  in  time  to 
impose  on  this  more  diffused  ministry,  the  idea 
involved  had,  and  has,  abiding  force :  and  it  was  not 
the  idea  underlying  the  later  distinction  between 
"  clergy  "  and  "  laity."  We  see  then,  already,  that 
it  is  important  to  go  behind  the  familiar  terms,"  the 
ministry,"  "  deacons,"  "  elders,"  •«  bishops,"  and  ask 
what  was  their  relation  to  the  whole  body  of  their 
fellow-members  in  the  common  work  of  worship  and 


478  The  Apostolic  Age. 

mutual  edification.  We  must  discover  the  various 
forms  of  ministry  through  which  the  Ecclesia  "  built 
itself  up  in  love,"  by  the  Divine  energies  at  work  in 
it,  and  so  find  inductively  the  scope  of  the  offices  in 
which  such  functions  gradually  took  shape.  For  the 
order,  in  idea  and  in  fact  too,  was,  first  function, 
then  special  functionary  or  office-bearer. 

Having  thus  adjusted  the  idea  of  organization  to 
the  genius  of  the  new  life,  we  can  consider  the  actual 
forms  which  it  assumed  as  time  went  on.  The  va- 
riety of  these  and  their  gradual  emergence  show  that 
such  matters  were  not  fixed  from  the  first  by  an 
11  Apostolic  constitution,"  as  the  later  Church  soon 
fell  to  imagining. 

As  Canon  Robinson  of  Westminster  recently  put  it : 
"  Church  order  is  from  the  beginning  a  sacred  growth, 
directed  by  the  constant  presence  within  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  so  as  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  living  and  multi- 
plying society :  it  is  not  a  scheme  delivered  by  the 
Lord  to  the  Apostles,  and  by  the  Apostles  to  the 
Church  ;  the  Body  of  the  Christ  is  an  organism  rather 
than  an  organization."  Indeed,  he  agrees  with  Dr. 
Hort  in  declaring,  that  "  there  is  no  trace  in  Scrip- 
ture of  a  formal  commission  of  authority  for  govern- 
ment from  Christ  Himself "  to  the  Apostles  at  all. 
Such  moral  authority  as  they  came  to  exercise  "was 
the  providential  outcome  of  their  commission  to  bear 
witness  of  Christ,"  Hot  "the  result  of  a  special  and 
definite  commission  of  authority  for  government." 
The  justice  of  this  view  becomes  the  clearer  when 
we  recall  Christ's  own  distinction  between  the  na- 
ture of  authority  in  His  society  and  that  in  other  so- 


Apostolic  Authority.  479 

cieties,  both  civil  and  religious  (Mark  x.  42  ff.;  Matt, 
xxiii.  8-10).  "  One  is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are 
brethren,"  is  the  maxim  among  disciples.  The  com- 
mission of  the  Apostles  was  for  witness  to  the  facts 
on  which  the  society  rests,  not  for  its  government. 
The  "  power  of  the  keys  "  was  the  power  to  define 
the  conditions  of  entrance  to  the  society,  as  in  the 
cases  of  the  Samaritans  and  of  Cornelius.  "  Power 
of  the  keys,"  in  the  sense  of  discipline,  was  a  matter 
for  the  whole  local  brotherhood  in  the  last  resort 
(Matt,  xviii.  15  fT.).  The  authority  of  moral  influ- 
ence naturally  attached  to  Apostles  as  primary  wit- 
nesses and  Fathers  of  the  churches  in  that  sense  :  and 
so  "an  ill-defined  but  lofty  authority  in  matters  of 
government  and  administration "  was  conceded  to 
them  "  by  the  spontaneous  homage  of  the  Christians 
of  Judsea."  But,  though  higher  in  degree,  this  was 
the  same  in  kind  as  the  authority  spontaneously  con- 
ceded— often  beyond  what  is  desired  or  accepted — 
to  pioneer  missionaries  to-day.  They  are  to  their 
converts  what  the  Apostles  were  to  theirs ;  and  there 
is  as  little  thought  of  constitutional  relations  in  the 
one  case  as  there  was  in  the  other.  Such  ideas  arise 
only  later :  the  moral  authority  of  the  man  who  be- 
gets a  community  in  the  gospel  is  practically  un- 
limited. But  in  theory,  as  we  look  back  to  learn  the 
lessons  of  the  first  age,  the  difference  is  very  great 
between  institutions  as  moulded  by  the  moral  au- 
thority of  the  prime  missionaries  of  Christendom, or 
by  the  obligatory  authority  of  those  claiming  to  ful- 
fil a  commission  for  Church  government.  The  for- 
mer fits  all  the  facts,  the  other  does  not. 


480  The  Apostolic  Age. 

Particularly  is  this  the  case  with  the  Apostolic 
outlook  as  reflected  in  Acts  i.  8.  Men  who  were 
asking  whether  their  Lord  was  then  and  there  "  re- 
storing the  Kingdom  to  Israel,"  had  obviously  no 
notion  of  the  very  need  of  special  governmental  com- 
mission in  their  own  hands.  They  went  forward 
"witnessing"  until  their  Lord  should  Himself  inter- 
vene, as  they  expected  He  might  do  any  day.  Later 
growing  experience  changed  their  perspective.  And 
thus  all  organization  of  the  Ecclesia  took  place  un- 
der the  pressure  of  felt  need  and,  as  we  shall  now 
see,  along  the  lines  of  the  religious  habits  native  to 
each  circle  of  converts.  The  resulting  arrangements 
were  as  divine — under  the  conditions  for  which  they 
were  developed — as  was  the  Life  whose  impulses 
they  expressed  and  furthered,  as  the  quality  of  the 
human  spirits  in  which  the  pressure  of  the  Spirit 
was  interpreted  and  obeyed.  Thus  they  are  the 
classic  precedents  of  the  Church  :  but  like  all  pre- 
cedents they  need  reinterpretation  in  order  that 
their  spirit  may  be  "  fulfilled,"  as  Christ  fulfilled  the 
Law. 

It  is  noteworthy  how  little  attention  is  given  in 
Acts  to  the  origins  of  organization.1  The  reason  of 
this  is  that  such  matters  called  for  no  explanation. 
As  long  as  its  members  were  mainly  Jews,  the  New 
Israel  would  naturally  organize,  when  need  arose, 

1  The  one  seeming  exception,  that  of  the  Seven,  only  proves  the 
rule.  Their  appointment  is  recorded  not  for  its  own  sake,  but  in 
order  to  introduce  Stephen  in  his  proper  context,  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  freer  Hellenistic  tendency  in  the  Jerusalem  Church, 
and  so  lead  up  to  his  epoch-marking  speech. 


Origins  of  Organization.  481 

on  the  lines  of  the  Old.1  The  new  spirit  of  their  fel- 
lowship of  itself  made  new  all  that  it  touched.  Thus 
"  elders  "  appear  as  a  matter  of  course,  when  first  al- 
luded to.  It  is  only  when  mainly  Gentile  Churches 
arose  in  South  Galatia  that  the  appointment  of  eld- 
ers, at  the  initiative  of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  is  thought 
worth  mentioning.  For  there  other  arrangements 
were  possible.  And  no  doubt  the  different  habitudes 
of  the  Gentile  converts  did  elsewhere  lead  to  types 
of  organization  less  and  less  on  Jewish  lines.  The 
typical  case  in  the  Apostolic  Age  is  that  of  Corinth : 
while  a  little  later  we  get  at  Philippi  mention  of  two 
distinct  types  of  ministry,  that  of  "  overseers  and 
deacons."  This  does  not  mean  that  such  ministries 
themselves  had  no  equivalents  in  more  Jewish 
churches :  but  it  may  be  that  terminology  had  not 
there  become  so  specialized,  and  that  the  time-hon- 
ored title  of  "  elders  "  still  covered  the  official  minis- 
try without  further  differentiation.  For  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  tendency  of  Jewish  organiza- 
tion was  towards  the  patriarchal  type,  the  great  dis- 
tinction in  the  community  being  between  seniors  and 
juniors,2  and  administration  and  discipline  falling  by 
general  consent  to  certain  leading  heads  of  families, 
the  elders  in  an  official  sense.  On  Jewish  soil,  and 
where  Greek  habits  had  not  grafted  the  democratic 


1  For  full  proof  of  this  the  writer  would  refer  to  the  first  part  of 
his  paper  on  "  The  development  of  the  historic  Episcopate,"  in  the 
Contemporary  Review  for  June,  1894. 

2  Compare  1  Pet.  v.  1-5,  where  general  oversight  of  the  commu- 
nity by  its  seniors  seems  implied,  as  also  Titus  ii.  1  ff.,  where 
oversight  of  the  younger  women  by  the  elder  is  definitely  enjoined. 

EE 


482  The  Apostolic  Age. 


element  of  formal  election  upon  the  simpler  stock, 
such  representation  of  the  community  rested  on  tacit 
or  informal  consent. 

But  among  the  Diaspora  it  is  probable  that  more 
Hellenic  methods  soon  came  into  play.  There  we 
must  allow  for  various  blends  of  the  two  types  of 
leadership,  the  patriarchal  (elders)  and  that  of  offi- 
cers elected  for  specific  functions,  as  in  the  religious 
guilds  and  associations.  Hence  in  the  second  part 
of  the  Didache,  representing  circles  of  a  mixed  or 
Hellenistic  order,  we  have  soon  after  60  A.  D. 
"  overseers  and  deacons,"  as  at  Philippi ;  while  yet  it 
is  probable  that  both  l  would  be  called  also  "  elders," 
in  the  general  sense  of  "  office-bearers  "  as  distinct 
from  the  community.  This  is  so  far  confirmed  by 
the  state  of  things  at  Ephesus  about  the  same  time, 
where  there  were  certainly  among  the  "  presiding  eld- 
ers "  some  exercising  "  oversight "  (1  Tim.  v.  17,  iii. 
Iff.).  The  case  is  more  obscure  as  regards  "dea- 
cons." But  the  fact  that  we  never  in  the  Apostolic 
Age  get  "  elders  and  deacons "  in  one  breath,  like 
"overseers  and  deacons,"  may  mean  that  it  was 
only  after  the  emergence  of  the  single  overseer  or 
bishop  that  the  term  "  elder  "  lost  its  more  general 
sense,  and  became  specialized  to  describe  the  senior 
colleagues  of  the  chief  pastor  who  now  monopolized 
the  term  "overseer,"  before  applied  to  the  senior 
officers  as  a  body.  2     That  "  overseer  "  sometimes  at 

1  We  have  already  seen  that  they  are  described  by  the  same 
adjectives  indicative  of  their  functions. 

2  Thus  Polycarp,  the  bishop  of  Smyrna  early  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, can,  according  to  his  own  local  usage,  speak  of  "the  presby- 
ters and  deacons "  at  Philippi,  whereas  Paul  had  spoken  of 
"overseers  and  deacons." 


Ministerial  Functions.  483 

least  began  by  being  used  to  describe  the  function  of 
certain  elders  rather  than  as  a  definite  official  title, 
is  probable  from  Acts  xx.  28,  where  Paul  says  to 
"  the  elders  of  the  Church "  of  Ephesus  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  had  set  them  "  as  overseers,  to  shepherd 
the  Ecclesia  of  God."  Similarly  we  have  the  func- 
tion of  "  ministering  "  l  spoken  of  before  we  hear  of 
"  ministers  "  in  the  narrower  sense  of  "  deacons  "  (the 
Greek  is  the  same) ;  and  we  hear  of  men  entering  on 
the  function  of  their  own  motion.  Paul  is  found  be- 
speaking the  Corinthian  Church's  recognition  of 
them  in  this  capacity.  Believers  are  bidden  "  sub- 
mit themselves  to  such,  and  to  every  one  that  shares 
their  work  and  labor."  This  looks  like  the  com- 
bination in  the  hands  of  a  group  of  volunteer  minis- 
ters of  functions  later  performed  by  two  classes  of 
men  to  whom  two  terms,  first  descriptively  and  then 
officially  or  technically,  were  appropriated.  The 
difference,  when  it  arose,  may  have  turned  largely 
on  age,  ability,  and  weight ;  so  that  the  one  class 
supervised,  while  the  other  did  more  of  the  drudgery 
of  the  actual  work.  To  the  same  result  points  the 
fact  that  the  same  qualifications  are  at  first  named 
for  the  two  classes,  entirely  so  in  the  Didache,  for 
the  most  part  so  in  1  Timothy  iii.  And  in  this  lat- 
ter passage,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  capacity  for 
lead  or  rule  (proved  first  at  home)  is  demanded  of 

1  1  Cor.  xvi.  15.  So  in  Rom.  xvi.  1  f.,  Phoebe  is  described  as 
ministering  to  the  Church  of  Cenchreae  in  a  large  and  influential 
sense,  whereby  she  was  "  patroness  "  of  many  (as  Christ  is  "  Pa- 
tron of  souls  "  in  1  Clem.  lxi.  3).  She  was  what  we  should  call  a 
"  benefactress  "  of  the  Church.  For  the  later  and  humbler  sense 
of  "  deaconess,"  see  Pliny's  famous  letter  to  Trajan. 


484  The  Apostolic  Age. 


both  (iv.  12)  ;  whereas  to  the  later  idea  of  "  dea- 
cons "  this  quality  would  have  little  relevance.  We 
conclude,  then,  that  the  functions  of  "oversight" 
and  "  diaconate  "  only  gradually  diverged  ;  might 
well  have  been  shared  among  a  body  of  Jewish  or 
semi-Jewish  elders  (by  a  sort  of  natural  selection 
based  largely  on  age) ;  and  that  even  where  dis- 
charged by  two  groups  of  officers  formally  distin- 
guished from  each  other,  these  men  were  for  a  time 
viewed  as  colleagues  differing  only  in  dignity. 

Of  the  basis  of  this  difference  there  is  perhaps  a 
hint  in  1  Tim.  v.  17,  in  the  greater  honor  due  to 
such  "  presiding  elders  "  (i.  e.,  official  elders,  includ- 
ing "overseers  and  deacons")  as  "labor  in  word 
and  teaching";  for  it  is  "aptness  for  teaching"  that 
most  distinguishes  "  overseer  "  from  "  deacon  "  in  the 
qualifications  demanded  (1  Tim.  iii.  1  ffi).  If  so,  we 
are  able  to  carry  the  distinction  further  back,  and  re- 
late it  to  the  fundamental  list  of  ministerial  functions 
or  gifts  that  are  found  in  1  Cor.  xii.  28.  For  there 
we  have  "helps,"  "guidances,"  closing  the  series. 
The  former  is  the  spirit  qualifying  for  all  ministries 
of  relief,  the  later  for  those  of  spiritual  counsel,  t.  e., 
"  labor  in  the  Word  and  teaching."  It  is  altogether 
characteristic  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  gospel 
the  helping  hand  was  more  prominent — so  named 
first — in  the  later,  the  wise  head;  just  as  we  saw  that 
"deacons"  tend  to  recede  in  importance  as  time 
goes  on.  For  this  change  of  perspective  there  was 
a  twofold  reason,  connected  with  the  specifically 
Christian  factor  modifying  the  application  of  the 
Jewish    and    Gentile    precedents    adopted,   as    we 


"Charismatic"  Gifts.  485 

have  seen,  into  the  church  organization.  We  refer 
to  the  place  of  charismatic  gifts  in  the  Apostolic 
Age. 

If  Judaism  supplied  the  patriarchal  element,  in 
the  elder  with  his  care  for  the  morals  of  the  flock ;  if 
Grseco-Roman  society  contributed  the  benefactor 
with  aptitude  for  administration  of  relief  and  kindly- 
lead  ; i  the  Gospel  itself  contributed  spiritual  gifts. 
As  the  Spirit  divided  to  each  man  severally  as  He 
willed,  He  thereby  placed  the  gifted  man  in  the 
Church  in  his  given  capacity  (1  Cor.  xii.  28), 
whether  as  "  overseer  "  (in  Acts  xx.  28)  or  otherwise. 
Such  men  were  the  Risen  Lord's  gifts  to  His  Church 
(Eph.  iv.  8,  11).  To  enter  fully  into  this  conception 
of  the  divine  origin  of  ministry,  is  to  be  at  home  with 
organization  in  the  Apostolic  Age ;  to  fail  here  is  to 
lose  the  key.  The  prime  gifts,  then,  to  the  Church 
in  general  were  "apostles  (in  the  wide  sense  of  the 
Didache'),  prophets,  teachers;"  men  whose  spiritual 
endowment  of  itself,  and  without  any  human  inter- 
vention, made  them  founders  and  fosterers  of  the 
spiritual  life  of  local  churches.  Among  such  they 
would  continue  to  exercise  an  itinerant  ministry  of 
spiritual  stimulus  and  guidance.  It  was  not  their 
function  to  become  officers  of  any  one  church, 
though  as  time  went  on  prophets  and  teachers  did  in 

1  1  Theas.  v.  12;  Eom.  xii.  8,  xvi.  2;  1  Tim.  v.  17;  Tit.  iii.  14, 
where  the  idea  of  guardianship  (nporffrdaOai)  occurs  in  various 
forms;  cf.  1  Tim.  iii.  5,  where  it  is  synonymous  with  "take  care 
of"  (IntiizkslaOai).  A  beautiful  instance  of  the  spirit  of  personal 
guardianship,  is  furnished  by  the  story  of  John  and  the  young 
convert,  who  turned  wild  and  was  recovered  from  his  brigand  life 
by  the  personal  exertions  of  the  aged  Apostle. 


486  The  Apostolic  Age. 

some  cases  settle  down  to  a  more  or  less  stationary 
ministry. 

At  first  the  local  ministry  was  supplied  through 
other  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  There  were  in  each 
church  men  who  showed  the  gift  of  prophecy  and 
inspired  teaching  (particularly  on  the  basis  of  the 
Scriptures)  in  a  measure  that  fell  short  of  that 
which  called  men  to  the  more  general  ministry  of 
"prophets"  proper  (1  Thess.  v.  19;  1  Cor.  i.  5f.,  xi. 
4  f.,  xiv.  1  ff,  26,  31).  On  such  men  at  first  de- 
volved the  ministry  in  public  worship.  Their  gift 
itself  was  their  sufficient  title,  or  rather  it  imposed  a 
duty  to  use  it  as  a  trust  for  all.  It  was  their  divine 
commission.  How  liberally  this  was  understood  may 
be  seen  from  the  one  restriction  enjoined  by  St.  Paul 
in  the  interests  of  order,  viz:  that  not  more  than 
one  at  a  time  should  speak  (1  Cor.  xiv.  27  ff.).  All 
that  the  church  did  in  the  matter  was  to  recognize 
the  gift  as  of  God,  in  virtue  of  its  own  general  en- 
dowment by  the  same  Spirit;  so  that  this  recogni- 
tion was  at  once  human  and  divine.  But  at  first 
nothing  of  a  formal  nature  was  done,  at  least  at 
Corinth,  to  mark  off  such  as  ministers  of  the  Word. 
They  performed  the  functions  of  their  respective 
gifts,  and  the  church  was  edified ;  that  was  all  that 
was  at  first  felt  needful. 

Nor  was  it  otherwise  with  the  humbles  gifts 
of  succor  and  wise  counsel,  named  last  on  Paul's 
list.  These  too,  as  we  have  seen,  inspired  a  vol- 
untary devotion  to  the  corresponding  needs  of  the 
brethren  in  the  more  practical  details  of  daily  life. 
And  the  Apostle  claims  for  them  loyal  recognition, 


Appointment  of  Ministers.  487 

for  the  good  work  done  (1  Cor.  xvi.  15  ff.;  1  Thess. 
v.  12,  13).  But  as  yet  there  is  no  sign  in  Corinth, 
of  which  we  know  most,  of  formal  appointment  to 
any  office.  The  converts  of  most  weight  and  judg- 
ment probably  exercised  some  sort  of  informal  con- 
trol of  the  conduct  of  worship,  as  in  the  Jewish 
synagogue,  where  "  the  rulers  "  did  not  conduct  but 
rather  regulated  worship.  There  "  for  just  the  acts 
proper  to  public  worship — the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, teaching  and  prayer — no  special  officials  were 
appointed."  So  was  it  for  a  time  in  the  Christian 
assemblies.  But  as  the  ecclesia  outgrew  its  family 
character  and  became  more  of  a  public  institution 
for  its  members,  experience  taught  the  need  of  more 
formal  selection  among  those  anxious  to  minister  in 
one  way  or  another.  Hence  regular  appointment 
(jeardffTaffK-)  by  the  Church  marked  off  certain  men 
as  fittest  for  office,  after  the  manner  of  the  reli- 
gious societies  familiar  to  most  Greek  converts. 
This  process  took  different  forms  in  different  types 
of  churches,  according  as  the  converts  came  mainly 
from  the  proselyte  class  or  direct  from  paganism. 
But  in  all  cases  the  essence  of  the  matter  was  a 
"  testing  "  (doJcimasia)  of  a  man's  gifts  or  qualities 
in  a  church-meeting.  The  points  enquired  into,  in 
the  case  of  one-  aspiring  to  "  oversight  "  and  "  diac- 
onate  "  respectively,  are  given  in  1  Tim.  iii,  1  ff.,  8  ff. 
In  the  latter  case  it  is  said,  "  and  let  these  also  (as 
well  as  would-be  '  overseers  ')  be  first  approved  on 
enquiry,  and  then  let  them  minister,  being  found 
blameless."  Entry  upon  office  followed  as  matter 
of  course  on  such  "  approval."     If  there  was,  as  is 


488  The  Apostolic  Age. 

possible,  any  formal  setting  apart  of  men  who  passed 
the  testing  and  were  chosen  by  the  Church  as  fit  and 
proper  persons  for  regular  ministry  (see  Didache  xv. 
pp.  335  f.),  it  is  not  named,  as  not  being  essential. 
Such  ordination  simply  sealed  qualifications  proved 
to  be  already  present :  there  was  nothing  further  to 
confer.  Henceforth  such  men  were  "  appointed 
[KaraaradivTB':)  elders,"  as  distinct  from  the  general 
body  of  elders  or  seniors  to  whom  belonged  special 
weight  and  honor  in  the  community.  Ordination, 
to  use  the  term  by  anticipation,  simply  gave  min- 
isterial rank  (ordo)  and  made  regular  the  exercise  of 
gifts  and  graces  already  approved  in  their  possessors 
— a  distinction  the  need  of  which  was  not  at  first 
felt.  The  form  of  such  setting  apart  came  in  course 
of  time  to  be  by  laying-on  of  hands,  though  we 
have  no  instance  of  the  sort  in  the  Apostolic  Age, 
save  in  the  case  of  the  Seven  in  Acts  vi.  6.  And  there 
it  is  not  represented  as  conferring  any  spiritual  grace 
— they  were  set  apart  because  "  full  of  (the)  Spirit 
and  wisdom  " — but  as  expressing  appointment  to  a 
given  service,  after  a  familiar  Jewish  usage.  The 
other  cases  are  of  another  kind :  for  laying-on  of 
hands  was  used  in  other  connections  than  that  of 
appointment.1  Nowhere  in  the  Apostolic  Age 
"have  we   any  information    about   the   manner   in 

1 E.  g.,  Acts  ix.  12,  17,  the  case  of  Ananias  and  Saul.  In  Acts 
xiii.  3,  men  use  this  rite  in  setting  apart  to  a  special  mission  men 
of  greater  grace  than  themselves.  This  setting  apart  took  place 
in  obedience  to  the  Spirit  in  certain  "prophets":  and  similarly 
it  was  by  like  prophetic  monition  that  Timothy  was  sent  forth  on 
a  unique  mission  in  the  like  way  (1  Tim.  i.  18,  iv.  14  ;  2.  Tim. 
i.  6.     See  Hort,  171  ff.  215  f.). 


No  Episcopal  System.  489 

which  elders  were  consecrated  or  ordained  to  their 
office." 

"  Of  officers  higher  than  elders,"  says  Dr.  Hort 
once  more,  "  we  find  nothing  that  points  to  an  insti- 
tution or  system,  nothing  like  the  Episcopal  system 
of  later  times.  In  the  New  Testament  the  word 
Epishopos  as  applied  to  men,  mainly,  if  not  always, 
is  not  a  title,  but  a  description  of  the  elder's  func- 
tion." Many  would  except  Phil.  i.  1,  from  the 
latter  rule.  But  the  former  holds  not  only  for  the 
New  Testament  but  for  Clement's  Epistle  also. 
Episkoiwi  or  overseers  (bishops),  then,  are  always 
found  as  a  body  of  officers  in  a  single  local  Church: 
and  no  function  is  as  yet  definitely  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  one  Ejyiskojws  in  such  a  sense  as  to  put 
him  in  an  order  by  himself.  The  nearest  approach 
to  this  before  70  (besides  James'  position  at  Jeru- 
salem due  to  personal  and  family  reasons),  appears 
in  the  temporary  functions  entrusted  to  Timothy 
and  Titus  as  representing  St.  Paul  in  the  completion 
of  organization  in  Ephesus  and  Crete  respectively. 
But  they  were  not  permanent  local  officers,  only 
Apostolic  assistants  on  detached  service.  Thus  the 
first  real  forerunner  of  the  single  or  monarchical 
bishop,  as  found  in  the  Ignatian  Epistles  (c.  110-115 
A.  D.),  is  Diotrephes,  who  seems  to  have  been  para- 
mount in  his  church.  Yet  there  is  no  sign  that 
even  he  was  superior  in  status,  rather  than  influence, 
to  his  fellow-elders. 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  in  the  last  years  of 
the  first  century  things  were  setting  steadily  towards 
the  emergence  of  a  third  order  distinct  from  elders 


490  The  Apostolic  Age. 

or  presbyter-bishops,  as  these  were  now  becoming 
more  marked  off  from  deacons.  This  may  be  inferred 
from  the  Ignatian  letters  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  later  ;  although  even  then,  Ignatius,  as  his  in- 
sistent tone  implies,  writes  not  as  an  historian, 
describing  facts,  but  rather  as  a  prophet  impressing 
an  ideal.  In  his  advocacy  of  the  single  bishop  as 
centre  of  visible  unity  in  each  church,  he  had  his 
eye  on  the  needs  of  the  future  rather  than  on  the 
facts  of  the  past.1  He  saw  in  the  actual  predomi- 
nance of  a  presiding  elder  or  bishop,  primus  inter 
pares2 — as  found  at  Antioch  and  in  certain  devel- 
oped churches  in  the  province  of  Asia,  and  no- 
where else  to  our  knowledge,  save  in  the  person  of 
the  Lord's  kinsman,  Symeon — the  best  guarantee  of 
outward  order  at  a  time  when  centrifugal  tendencies 
were  strong.  Accordingly  he  tried  to  strengthen 
the  bishop's  position  by  furnishing  it  with  a  new 
theoretic  basis.  But  the  striking  thing  is  that,  while 
fertile  in  ideal  arguments  and  analogies,  he  never 
claims  for  his  favorite  institution  Apostolic  origin  or 
commission  :  and  this  in  the  region  where  John's 
name  was  of  supreme  authority.  As  Dr.  Moberly 
justly  observes :     "  It  is  only  as  the  symbol  of  unity 

1  See  Sanday,  Expositor,  Dec  1888,  p.  326  ;  Ramsay,  Church  in 
the  Roman  Empire,  p.  370  f. 

2  An  elder  of  strong  personality  and  gifts  might  reach  this 
position  through  prolonged  exercise  of  some  leading  function  once 
shared  by  all  elders.  Thus  high  gifts  for  Eucharistic  prayer  or 
for  administering  the  charity  and  hospitality  of  the  Church — with 
which  might  go  the  duties  of  church-secretary — could  give  the 
slight  start  alone  needed  to  bring  into  view  the  advantages  of  a 
single  head  to  a  college  of  officers. 


The  Congregation  the  Unit.  491 

that  the  bishop  is  magnified."  Ignatius  therefore 
fully  supports  Jerome's  account  of  the  rise  of  the 
single  pastor  or  bishop,  namely  "  that  the  germs  of 
factions  might  be  removed."  And  in  this  light  the 
development  was  a  valuable  one,  so  expedient  that 
the  vast  majority  of  churches  to-day  make  it  the 
keystone  of  organization — the  last  addition,  making 
firm  the  rest  of  the  arch. 

But,  be  it  observed,  the  unit  of  organization  still 
is  the  single  city  church  or  congregation.  There  is 
no  trace  of  the  subordination  of  the  chief  local  pas- 
tor or  bishop  of  one  such  congregation  to  that  of 
another.  Episcopacy  is  still  congregational,  not 
diocesan.  The  story  of  the  latter  development  be- 
longs to  the  Post- Apostolic  Church,  and  to  that  of  the 
third  rather  than  the  second  century.  The  Apos- 
tolic Age  leaves  us  at  the  meeting-place  of  modern 
organization,  not  at  its  dividing-point.  So  far,  the 
Ecclesia  presents  to  us  two  units,  one  at  either  end 
of  the  scale,  the  local  unit  and  the  universal  society. 
The  former  is  that  with  which  organized  fellowship 
has  mainly  to  do,  the  unit  of  practical,  habitual  re- 
lations :  the  latter  is  that  of  ideal  fellowship,  in 
which  the  spirit  untrammeled  by  restraints  can  ex- 
pand itself.  And  it  may  truly  be  said  that  this 
larger  unity  was  never  so  intensely  realized,  and 
acted  upon,  as  occasion  offered,  by  way  of  hospitality 
and  all  spontaneous  expressions  of  mutual  love  and 
interest,  as  in  the  Apostolic  Age,  when  the  whole  was 
least  organized  on  hierarchical  lines.  The  brotherly 
feeling  is  finely  expressed  in  the  Eucharistic  prayers 
of  the  Didache  and  1  Clement ;  and  quotations  might 


492  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

be  multiplied  to  show  the  practical  forms  which  it 
took.  But  never  was  each  ecclesia  more  autonomous 
in  relation  to  every  sister  ecclesia  ;  and  never  was  the 
activity- of  each  member  as  an  integral  and  responsi- 
ble part  of  each  church  more  pronounced.  This 
comes  out  not  only  in  the  popular  election  of  its 
own  officers,  but  also  in  the  cooperation  of  the 
whole  church  in  all  church  business,  particularly 
the  vital  matter  of  discipline. 

It  is  clear  from  2  Cor.  ii.  6,  where  mention  is  made 
of  an  award  made  by  the  majority,  that  discipline 
was  an  affair  of  the  church  as  a  whole.  The  same  is 
implied  in  Matt,  xviii.  15  ff.,  and  also  in  1  Clement, 
where  a  man  is  imagined  acting  as  bidden  by  the 
mass  of  his  fellows  (t3  TtXfjdos).  But  so  deep-rooted 
was  this  feeling  that  each  church  itself  was  the 
guardian  of  its  own  purity,  that  our  most  vivid  ac- 
count of  a  discipline- case  comes  from  a  writing  of 
the  third  century,  which  underwent  revision  in  the 
fourth  century  without  even  then  losing  this  trait. 
If  a  case  of  wrong  arise  between  Christians,  and 
they  cannot  be  got  to  settle  it  privately,  "  let  your 
judicial  sessions  be  held  on  the  second  day  of  the 
week.  .  .  .  When,  then,  both  parties  arrive, 
even  as  the  law  saith,  let  those  at  issue  severally 
stand  forth.  And  when  ye  have  heard  them,  record 
your  votes  holily,  trying  all  the  while  to  reconcile 
them  before  sentence  is  uttered  by  the  bishop." 
Similarly  in  cases  of  alleged  evil  living.1  Here  the 
brethren  are  literally  a  church-court,  presided  over 

1  Apostolical  Constitutions,  ii.  47,  based  on  the  earlier  Bidaskalia : 
cf.  Tertullian,  Apol.  39. 


Practical  Ethics.  493 


by  the  local  officers,  the  verdict  being  brought  in  by 
a  majority  vote.  This  is  Apostolic  church  life,  where 
fellowship  (Koinonia)  issues  in  responsible  coopera- 
tion by  all  in  the  interests  of  each  and  all.  For, 
says  Dr.  Hort,  "  we  cannot  properly  speak  of  an  or- 
ganization of  a  community  from  which  the  greater 
part  of  its  members  are  excluded."  Rather  the 
officers  of  the  ecclesia  are  "organs  of  its  corporate 
life  for  special  purposes :  so  that  the  offices  of  an 
ecclesia  at  any  time  are  only  a  part  of  its  organiza- 
tion "  ( Christian  Ecclesia  229  f.). 

The  New  Society  took  seriously  the  application  to 
its  life  of  the  New  Law  of  Christ.  Space  will  not 
allow  us  to  show  how  the  supreme  duty  of  Love  to- 
wards all  that  the  Father  loves — one's  own  soul  and 
that  of  one's  fellows — worked  as  a  leaven,  purifying 
life,  personal  and  social.  Truly  was  it  said1  that 
brotherly  love  ( Philadelphia)  fosters  every  virtue, 
but  "  misanthropy  "  every  vice.  But  the  very  prac- 
tical way  in  which  this  was  taken  may  be  illustrated 
from  one  writing,2  setting  forth  the  new  ethical  ideal 
for  the  laity.  It  warns  against  the  overreaching 
temper  (nXtovtZia)  as  the  great  solvent  of  communion ; 
against  the  spirit  of  retaliation  ;  against  a  spirit 
over-curious   as   to   the   doings  of  worldly  society, 

1  In  the  so-called  Epistle  of  Clement  to  James. 

8  Book  i.  of  the  so-called  Apost.  Constitutions,  which  has  prob- 
ably a  very  primitive  basis.  For  this,  as  for  the  older  elements 
in  Bks.  i.-vi.  of  this  collection  of  church  regulations  as  a  whole, 
we  have  now  not  only  the  Syriac  Didaskalia  but  also  the  old  Latin 
version,  which  is  even  closer  to  the  original  Greek  (edited  by  E. 
Hauler  in  Teubner's  Classical  Series,  1899). 


494  The  Apostolic  Age. 

instead  of  minding  its  own  business  and  meditating 
on  the  Law,  the  Kingly  Books,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Gospel  which  is  the  fulfilment  of  their  essence  ;  and 
finally  against  seeking  admiration  by  personal  adorn- 
ment, as  placing  temptation  in  the  way  of  others,  if 
not  in  one's  own.     The  latter  advice  is  given  to  both 
sexes  in  turn :  and  this  care  for  others  is  a  fine  touch 
which  brings  home  vividly  the  new  heart  of  love 
that  had  been  given  to  humanity.     This  love,  the 
love  of  reverence  not  of  natural  impulse,  was  the 
peculiar  glory  of  the  Gospel.     It  was  kindled  from 
the  higher,  the  spiritual  side,  by  a  new  idea  of  hu- 
manity as   called   to   be   a   partaker   in   the  divine 
nature.     But  it  was  lifted  above  the  vagueness  and 
practical  impotence  of  Platonic  love,  by  being  rooted 
in  a  divine-human  life  that  had  actually  been  lived 
on  earth  amid  conditions  so  simple,  and  even  hard, 
as  to  show  the  way  of  divine  sonship  to  lie  open 
to  the  lowliest  and  most  despised.     And  so  a  new 
idea  of  the   worth  of  human   personality — of  "the 
soul,"  which  now  gained  a  new  depth  of  meaning — 
fired    the   inmost   heart   and   extended  its   passion 
through  the  emotional  nature  of  man,  until  his  whole 
being  was  spiritualized.     A   reverential  pathos,  at 
the  contrast  between  man  as  he  was  and  man  seen 
in  the  light  of  Redemption — man  as  related  to  the 
heavenly  Father  and  the  holy  Saviour,  the  Son  of  Man 
— this  mastered  the  Christian  spirit  and  made  it  a 
new  thing.     Here  lies  the  sacred  spring  of  spiritual 
love  and  self-sacrifice  that  has  lifted  the  world,  and 
made  Christendom,  with  all  its  shortcomings,  a  dif- 
ferent world  from  that  before — humaner,  tenderer, 


Ethical  Changes  Wrought.  495 

humbler,  holier,  morally  braver — in  a  word,  more 
redemptive.  Historically,  the  enthusiasm  of  human- 
ity is  a  creation  of  the  Life  and  Death  of  Christ.  Its 
original  and  one  enduring  basis  is  the  idea  of  human 
value  there  exhibited  and  enforced. 

Even  to  enumerate  the  points  at  which  this  master 
thought  touched  human  life,  sanctifying  and  modi- 
fying all  its  relations  would  carry  us  now  too  far. 
No  convention  of  age,  sex,  condition,  culture,  but  felt 
its  power.  Disabilities  connected  with  the  name  of 
child,  woman,  barbarian,  slave,  were  in  principle  can- 
celled within  the  New  Society.  But  it  had  as  yet  no 
power  to  change  the  usages  of  society  at  large,  nor 
felt  this  to  be  its  mission.  It  simply  referred  to  the 
Lord's  expected  Return  the  changing  of  the  frame- 
work of  society :  so  that  even  the  servile  condition 
as  such  (which  under  good  masters  differed  little,  if 
at  all,  from  free  domestic  service),  did  not  seem  a 
matter  of  much  concern.  Manhood  was  at  once 
emancipated,  for  the  freemen  of  the  Lord ;  and  the 
Epistle  to  Philemon  sets  forth  a  fraternal  relation 
which  had  in  it  the  seed  of  the  social  change  that 
could  not  tarry  long.  Heathen  vice,  too,  took  on  a 
new  and  darker  hue.  Lying,  quarreling,  back- 
biting, became  what  they  were  not  before,  sins. 

And  so  the  silent  but  mighty  social  revolution 
went  forwards;  and  in  the  little  communities  around 
the  Mediterranean  were  being  laid  the  foundations 
of  a  new  conscience,  a  new  moral  order.  But  few  of 
those  who  were  quietly,  patiently,  building  act  on 
act  in  the  face  of  obloquy  and  derision,  were  aware 
of  the   scope  of  their  task.     To  a  Paul,  indeed,  it 


496  The  Apostolic  Age. 

was  given  to  see  the  grand  outline  of  the  New 
Humanity,  the  Body  of  which  the  Second  Adam 
was  Head,  and  something  of  the  sweep  of  the  eternal 
purpose  inferred  from  the  great  Cornerstone  and  the 
rudiments  of  the  building  rising  under  his  own  eyes. 
For  the  rest,  it  was  enough  that  amid  much  fore- 
shortening of  perspective,  amid  many  illusions  of 
imagination,  and  with  not  a  few  failures  in  its 
membership,  the  Christian  Ecclesia  of  God.  was  in 
simple  loyalty  doing  from  day  to-day  what  the  King 
of  the  Ages  gave  to  their  hand  to  do. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Types  of  Doctrine 

S  hinted  in  the  closing  sentences  of  our 
last  chapter,  it  is  in  Paul  alone  of  the 
first  Christian  generation  that  we  discern 
such  insight  into  the  ultimate  bearings  of 
the  Gospel,  as  could  relate  it  to  the  past 
and  future  of  humanity  at  large.  And  Paul's  phil- 
osophy of  history  from  the  religious  stand-point,  re- 
mained very  much  his  own.  For  his  distinctive  con- 
ceptions, styled  collectively  Paulinism,  sprang  not 
so  much  from  his  intellect — though  that  was  excep- 
tional— as  from  a  religious  experience  of  extraordi- 
nary depth  and  inwardness.  Other  types  of  Chris- 
tian thinking  were  more  easily  assimilated  by  the 
later  Apostolic  Age,  well  represented  by  Clement's 
Epistle,  just  because  the  religious  experience  behind 
them  was  not  so  original.  We  must  try,  then,  to 
gather  up  the  hints  already  thrown  out  as  to  the 
various  aspects  under  which  the  gospel  was  appre- 
hended, and  to  indicate  their  mutual  relations. 

The  Messianic  Salvation  of  Jesus  was  conceived 
by  the  early  Palestinian  Ecclesia  on  distinctly 
national  lines.  It  was  the  special  prerogative  of 
Jehovah's  Chosen  People,  "the  People"  to  use  their 
favorite  phrase.  Jesus  Messiah  was  to  "  save  His 
FF  497 


498  The  Apostolic  Age. 

People  from  their  sins."  In  Acts  and  the  non- 
Pauline  Epistles  of  the  period  the  old  contrast 
between  the  People  and  the  Nations  persists  even  in 
relation  to  the  gospel.  Salvation  remains  largely  a 
corporate  conception,  Messianic  well-being  in  a 
renewed  Israel  as  such : l  and  this  really  colored  all 
the  related  ideas,  "righteousness,"  "faith,"  "holi- 
ness," and  the  like,  while  it  presupposed  a  speedy 
visible  Return.  Here  the  main  point  religiously  that 
calls  for  note,  is  that  the  more  external  aspect  of 
being  "added  "  to  a  community  in  possession  of  the 
pledge  of  Forgiveness  and  the  Hope  of  near  Salva- 
tion, overshadowed  the  inner,  experimental,  or  sub- 
jective state  of  the  heart  in  the  individual  believer. 
The  community  or  Ecclesia  had  dissociated  itself 
collectively  from  the  corporate  guilt  of  a  crooked  and 
perverse  Israel  (shown  in  the  crucifixion  of  Messiah) 
by  the  purificatory  act  of  baptism  :  and  its  acceptance 
as  the  nucleus  of  Messiah's  kingdom  had  been  sealed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  "  falling  upon "  its  members. 
But  while  the  Holy  Spirit  was  regarded  as  quicken- 
ing and  purifying  the  inner  life,  so  as  to  qualify  for 
membership  in  the  consecrated  People ;  yet  the  more 
spiritual  aspect  of  His  abiding  action  as  the  author  and 
sustainer  of  the  moral  life  of  the  individual,  seems  to 
have  been  less  realized  than  the  striking  exhibitions  of 
supernatural  power  in  the  speaking  with  tongues  and 
prophesying.  Such  was  the  normal  Judseo-Christian 
outlook  in  the  early  Apostolic  Age.  And  though 
men  like  Peter,  John,  and  James  the  Lord's  brother, 
came  in  time  to  take  other  and  deeper  views  of  the 
1  Acts  vii.  25,  iv.  10-12  ;  cf.  Luke  i.  77. 


Judas — Christianity  and  the   Cross.  499 

New  Life  of  which  they  were  conscious ;  yet  this 
probably  continued  to  hold  good  of  the  Palestinian 
ecclesia  in  general ;  and  even  in  their  own  case  we 
must  allow  for  the  influence  of  one  not  of  their  origi- 
nal circle,  Paul  the  ex-Pharisee. 

Before  his  advent  there  is  no  sign  that  any  one 
had  learned  to  see  glory  in  the  Cross.  It  was  ac- 
cepted as  a  mysterious  dispensation,  foretold  in  proph- 
ecy and  justified  by  the  Resurrection.  But  at  first 
its  connection  with  salvation  was  not  perceived,  such 
a  thing  having  no  place  in  the  Jewish  Messianic  ex- 
pectation, through  which  chiefly  they  saw  the  Chris- 
tian facts.  This  lack,  as  we  have  seen,  helped  to 
create  the  situation  which  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews aims  at  meeting.1  And  though  a  Peter  or  a 
John  had  long  ere  this  seen  in  Christ's  blood  a  sacri- 
fice for  sin,  on  the  lines  of  prophecies  like  Is.liii.,  even 
they  saw  little  in  the  Cross  beyond  the  bare  fact  of 
loving  self-sacrifice.  To  Paul  on  the  other  hand  it 
was  the  very  symbol  of  salvation.  The  reason  of 
this  contrast,  and  of  that  in  relation  to  the  Law,  we 
must  now  seek.  It  leads  us  straight  to  the  heart  of 
Paulinism. 

A  thoughtful  modern  Jew  has  said :  "  Jesus  seems 
to  expand  and  spiritualize  Judaism ;  Paul  in  some 
sense  turns  it  upside  down."  In  what  sense,  and 
why  ?  The  different  attitudes  of  the  Master  and  the 
disciple  to  the  Law  is  the  obvious  answer.  But 
whence  the  difference?     Early  in  our  study  we  saw 

1  Heb.  vi.  1  f.,  gives  the  elements  of  their  faith,  and  omits  it. 
Similarly  there  is  no  reference  to  it  in  the  Eucharistic  prayers 
of  the  Didache. 


500  The  Apostolic  Age. 

that  Jesus'  own  attitude  to  the  Law  was  twofold — 
dutifulness,  combined  with  sovereign  freedom  to  its 
letter  in  the  interest  of  its  inmost  spirit.  To  this 
the  primitive  Apostles  in  the  main  adhered,  though 
they  only  gradually  realized  the  full  bearings  of  the 
freer  aspect.  But  Paul's  attitude  to  the  Law  was 
quite  different :  and  the  reason  is  to  be  sought  in  the 
difference  of  his  previous  attitude  as  Saul  the  Phari- 
see. In  a  word  it  is  this :  Jesus  had  never  thought 
of  the  Law  as  a  means  of  winning  salvation,  nor  had 
His  simple,  humble-minded  Galilean  followers;  but 
this  is  just  the  light  in  which  Saul  had  come  to  re- 
gard it,  through  his  professional  Pharisaic  training. 
And  the  recoil  was  in  proportion.  To  the  former 
the  Law  was  a  divine  aid  to  piety  furnished  by  pater- 
nal goodness ;  to  the  latter  it  was  the  code  by  fulfil- 
ment of  which  Righteousness  was  to  be  established 
in  God's  sight  and  the  favor  of  the  High  and  Holy 
One  merited.  The  stimulus  to  human  effort  applied 
by  the  latter  conception  taken  seriously — Saul  took 
it  very  seriously — was  intense,  and  the  internal  trav- 
ail corresponding.  In  the  process  his  soul  came  to  a 
degree  of  self-knowledge,  in  the  sphere  of  moral  ina- 
bility and  its  causes,  which  was  unique  in  the  history 
of  mankind ;  and  his  distinctive  theology  is  the  re- 
sult, in  terms  of  the  deliverance  from  so  great  and 
direful  bondage.  In  other  words,  he  knew  from  ex- 
perience, as  none  other,  what  the  Law  could  not  do ; 
and  on  the  dark  cloud  of  that  knowledge  the  light  of 
Grace  shone  with  added  lustre. 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  was  not  Paul's  original  atti- 
tude to  the  Law  an  artificial,  a  morbid  one — a  mere 


The  Pauline  Experience.  501 

abuse  of  a  good  thing?  No  doubt  it  was  so  largely.1 
Yet  it  is  true  to  the  effect  of  Law  upon  human  na- 
ture as  it  is,  generating  in  man's  egoism  and  selfhood 
the  legal  principle  of  self-justification.  And  unless 
the  actual  workings  of  the  natural  man  under  the 
stimulus  of  Law  had  been  brought  to  light  by  the 
remorseless  logic  of  the  Pauline  experience,  the  true 
nature  of  grace,  as  presupposed  in  any  wholesome 
relation  to  Law,  would  not  have  been  placed  in  re- 
lief.2 A  moral  ambiguity  would  have  lurked  for  all 
time  even  in  the  gospel. 

The  classic  record  of  this  great  experiment  is  to 
be  read  in  Romans  vii.  Once,  says  Paul,  he  had  lived 
the  happy  careless  life  of  childhood,  as  if  Law  did 
not  exist ;  and  there  was  no  sense  of  division  within. 
But  on  his  awakening  soul  dawned  the  sense  of  a 
holy,  inviolable  Law,  prescribing  to  him  the  way  in 
which  alone  he  must  walk  to  be  right  with  God.  His 
conscience  assented  to  each  command ;  but  he  also 
became  aware  for  the  first  time  of  a  rebellious  ele- 
ment of  self-indulgent  and  self-assertive  desire  within 
him,  crossing  and  crossed  by  the  Divine  Law.  At 
once  the  former  peace  of  mind  was  exchanged  for 

1  Yet  we  cannot  doubt  that  it  was  the  legitimate  outcome  of  the 
Pharisaic  doctrine  of  his  day,  an  echo  of  which  we  have  also  in 
the  Apoc.  of  Baruch  (see  Charles'  edition).  The  humbler  tone  of 
iv.  Ezra  is  probably  the  outcome  of  the  bitter  experiences  of  70 
A.  D.,  which  must  have  done  much  to  take  the  proud  heart  out 
of  Pharisaic  Judaism. 

2  Thus  through  the  Law  Paul  died  to  the  Law  (as  legal  princi- 
ple, in  man's  perverting  consciousness),  just  as  through  Logic  men 
die  to  Logic.  Just  he  who  has  not  been  through  Logic  and  learned 
its  limitations,  is  most  likely  to  be  caught  in  its  fallacies— rea- 
soning badly,  when  he  plumes  himself  on  not  "  reasoning  "  at  all. 


502  The  Apostolic  Age. 

internal  war,  life  for  a  living  death.  For  while  "  the 
mind  "  or  inner  man  sided  with  the  Law,  it  did  so 
too  feebly  to  hold  down  the  full-blooded  desires  that 
knew  no  allegiance  to  aught  but  their  own  impulses, 
and  so  drove  him  to  enmity  with  the  Law  of  God. 
Thus  he  found  himself  full  soon  the  slave  of  sin, 
sighing  for  some  deliverance  out  of  the  great  contra- 
diction into  which  the  Law  had  led  him.  The  Law  ? 
Yes,  the  good  and  holy  Law  of  God  was  what  had 
evoked  a  latent  force  of  evil  within,  by  defining  cer- 
tain impulses  of  his  nature  as  unlawful  and  by  that 
very  definition  the  more  provoking  them  into  a  new 
and  sinful  energy.  Apart  from  the  Law,  then,  Paul 
had  not  known  sin,  as  sin.  So  that  what  had  been 
given  to  lead  him  to  righteousness  and  life,  had  in 
effect  plunged  him  into  a  miserable  sense  of  sin  and 
death. 

The  intensity  of  his  experience  of  Law  was  cer- 
tainly due  to  the  serious  and  inward  way  in  which 
he  took  it,  and  himself  in  relation  to  it.  He  took 
it  to  cover  the  whole  man,  his  inner  world  of  motive 
as  well  as  his  overt  acts.  Here  lay  his  unique  in- 
sight, which  brought  Pharisaic  Judaism — the  strict 
working  out  of  the  legal  principle  in  the  Law — to 
bankruptcy  in  the  eyes  of  its  most  devoted  son. 
"  From  the  day,"  says  Dr.  A.  B.  Bruce,  "  that  the 
eye  of  Saul's  conscience  lighted  on  the  words,  '  Thou 
shalt  not  covet,1  his  Judaism  was  doomed.  It  might 
last  for  a  while  .  .  .  but  the  heart  was  taken 
out  of  it."  The  Law,  taken  seriously,  led  men  not 
to  justification  but  to  an  utter  sense  of  need  for  jus- 
tification at  God's  hands  and  by  His  provision,  "  the 


Its    And- Legalism.  503 

righteousness  of  God."  It  was  as  God's  answer  to 
this  need  that  Jesus  was  revealed  to  Paul  on  the  road 
to  Damascus.  With  this  crisis  closed  a  season  of 
doubt,  during  which  the  goad  of  the  divine  pressure 
towards  the  acceptance  of  the  crucified  Messiah  had 
been  driving  him  on  to  a  definite  breach  with  his 
Pharisaic  training.  Jesus  had  died  by  a  death  ac- 
cursed in  the  eye  of  the  Law.  If,  after  all,  salvation 
lay  in  Him,  then  it  was  by  a  way  independent  of  this 
Law.  The  vision  of  the  Risen  One  confirmed  the 
witness  of  the  Apostles  that  God  had  put  His  own 
seal  of  approval  on  Jesus  as  Messiah.  Therewith  the 
whole  fabric  of  Jewish  legalism,  in  the  interests  of 
which  Jesus  had  been  done  to  death,  collapsed  as  re- 
jected of  God ;  and  Paul  passed,  in  the  wake  of  his 
new  Lord,  into  a  new  sphere  in  which  the  Law  in  the 
old  sense  had  no  place.  And  so  both  his  experience 
of  the  Law  as  a  code  of  divine  injunctions — unable 
to  iuspire  and  justify,  able  only  to  condemn — and  the 
lot  of  Messiah  Himself  at  the  hands  of  the  guardians 
of  the  Law  as  a  letter,  converged  on  one  point — death 
by  it  and  so  to  it.  "  I  through  (the)  Law  died  to 
Law,  that  I  may  live  unto  God.  With  Christ  I  have 
shared  crucifixion.  Yet  I  live,  no  longer  (the  old) 
I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  As  spiritually  identified 
with  Messiah  in  His  life  apart  from  external  law, 
Paul  shared  the  Messianic  Righteousness. 

Here  then,  lie  the  origins  of  Paulinism,  making  it, 
when  rightly  seen,  the  most  experimental  of  theolo- 
gies, because  worked  out  through  the  blood  and 
tears  of  the  soul's  deepest,  most  humbling  self-knowl- 
edge.    It  is  an  accident,  an  accident  that  has  tended 


504  The  Apostolic  Age. 

to  obscure  Paulinism  to  after  times,  that  much  of 
Paul's  writing  was  forced  from  him  in  controversy 
with  Pharisaic  Judaizers.  Hence  the  theological 
formulation  of  his  thought  is  often  determined  by 
sharp  antithesis  to  Jewish  positions  not  familiar  to  the 
reader,  and  cast  in  Rabbinic  forms  of  argument  or 
exposition.  But  the  religious  intuitions  underlying  it 
all,  and  often  flashing  forth  in  pure,  direct,  experimen- 
tal form  (as  in  2  Cor.  v.  14  ff ;  Rom.  vii.  7  ff.— viii.  39, 
and  Gal.  ii.  19-21),  have  spoken  to  millions  of  souls 
with  unrivalled  power.  Through  his  eyes  multitudes 
have  been  able  to  read  the  dark  places  of  their  own 
nature  as  never  before ;  "  the  flesh,"  "  the  inner  man  " 
of  the  mind,  and  "  the  law  (i.  e.  principle)  of  the  Spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,"  have  become  luminous 
phrases,  answering  to  the  deepest  realities.  But  it 
was  not  so  with  many  in  the  Apostolic  Age.  The 
older  apostles  had  viewed  the  Law  as  did  the  humble 
souls  who  rejoiced  therein,  whether  in  Psalm  or  in 
Wisdom  writing:  and  from  the  like  class  came  the 
bulk  of  Judaeo-Christian  converts.  The  Judaizers 
viewed  the  Law  in  an  external  sense  as  a  Jewish 
national  privilege,  not  taking  it  to  heart  and  being 
searched  by  it  like  their  brother  Pharisee.  Still  less 
able  to  enter  into  Paul's  experience  were  the  bulk  of 
Hellenists,  proselytes,  and  pure  Gentile  converts,  on 
whom  the  Law  had  not  lain  as  exactingly,  in  any 
sense,  as  on  Palestinian  Judaism.  To  them  the  Law 
seemed  but  a  helpful  restraint  and  safeguard  against 
the  corruption  around  them,  described  with  such  ter- 
rible truth  in  Romans  i.  18  ff. — a  function  of  the 
Law  which  Paul  also  recognizes,  in  comparing  it  to 


The  Divine  Life  in  Man.  505 

the  guardian  servant  who  leads  the  child  through  the 
dangers  of  the  street  to  its  true  Teacher,  even  Christ 
(Gal.  iii.  24).  Knowing  it,  then,  only  in  this  more 
superficial  fashion,  they  could  not  enter  into  the 
meaning  of  Paul's  exultant  sense  of  having  tran- 
scended the  Law  in  coming  under  the  sway  of  Grace 
through  faith.  To  them  the  gospel  seemed  itself  a 
Law  of  liberty,  i.  e.,  the  Divine  Law,  renovated  in 
Christ  by  the  falling  away  of  its  ceremonial  and  na- 
tional features.  It  thus  marked  the  path  of  moral 
freedom  and  the  resulting  reward  promised  by  God 
to  obedience — a  path  on  which  they  were  set  with 
a  new  impulse  from  the  forgiveness  of  past  sins,  by 
trust  in  God's  Chosen  One,  and  even  in  His  sacrifi- 
cial death.  Accordingly  this  average  non-Palestin- 
ian Christianity  conceived  the  Christian  life  as 
"  man's  own  life  governed  by  a  divine  Law  "  ;  whereas 
to  Paul  it  was  "the  divine  life  in  man."  These  con- 
trasts must  not  be  taken  too  sharply ;  but  they  ex- 
press a  real  difference  of  type.  And  it  was  Paul's 
deep  sense  of  sin  in  the  flesh  (the  natural,  animal  or 
egoistic  man)  that  made  him  more  alive  to  the  di- 
vine initiative  of  the  Spirit  needful  to  the  emancipa- 
tion of  the  inner  man  (the  higher  nature  sensitive  to 
the  Divine).  Christian  life  to  him,  then,  was  the 
fruitage  of  the  divine  life  in  man,  inspired  by  the 
Spirit  and  "  worked  out "  or  actualized  by  human 
receptivity.  The  obedience  was  vital  rather  than 
legal  in  any  sense. 

This  deep  anti-legalism  was  not  grasped  by  the 
later  Apostolic  Age.  By  certain  gnostics  Paul's 
boldest  phrases  were  wrested  from  their  context  and 


500  The  Apostolic  Age. 

spirit,  probably  bona  fide  and  owing  to  a  different 
training  and  use  of  words.  By  men  whose  general 
good  sense  and  practical  instinct  kept  them  from  this, 
especially  where  familiar  with  other  types  of  teach- 
ing— that  is  by  men  of  the  Clement  type — this  dan- 
ger was  avoided.  But  they  saw  even  less  into  Paul- 
inism :  they  did  not  feel  its  distinctive  genius.  On 
the  whole,  then,  while  some  of  Paul's  fellow-apostles 
— Peter,  the  author  of  Hebrews,  John — grafted  cer- 
tain of  his  ideas  upon  their  own  distinctive  appre- 
hensions of  the  gospel,  the  Pauline  experience  as  to 
the  Law  and  the  work  of  Christ  in  relation  thereto 
remained  peculiar  to  himself.  His  deep  sense  of 
mystical  union  with  Christ  in  the  Spirit,  through 
faith,  they  shared  :  and  through  their  united  labors 
the  deeper  spirits  of  the  second  generation  shared  it 
too  in  their  measure.  But  while  in  Clement  there 
lives  the  spirit,  as  well  as  the  letter,  of  Hebrews  and 
of  Peter;  in  Ignatius,  the  Johannine ;  in  Polycarp, 
both  the  Petrine  and  the  Johannine  after  a  naive  and 
simple  sort ;  in  none  of  the  so-called  Apostolic  Fath- 
ers do  we  get  the  real  Pauline  ring — unless  it  be  in 
the  beautiful  Epistle  to  Diognetus  from  an  un- 
known pen  about  140  A.  D.  But  not  even  there  is 
it  full.  It  was  reserved  for  the  contemporary  Mar- 
cion  of  Pontus,  to  respond  to  the  Pauline  experience 
of  redemption  from  the  legal  into  an  utterly  new 
and  evangelic  spirit :  and  he  misunderstood  him. 
For  he  pressed  the  moral  dualism  of  Law  and  Grace 
into  the  metaphysical  sphere,  and  severed  the  God 
of  the  Old  Dispensation  from  the  Fatherly  God  of 
the  New,  in  a  way  quite  alien  to  St.  Paul.     Thus 


Post- Apostolic  Doctrine.  507 


Marcion  and  his  interpretation  were  alike  discred- 
ited :  and  Paul  remained  for  two  centuries  and  more 
in  high  honor  indeed,  but  understood  only  in  frag- 
ments and  mostly  from  the  outside.  Then  in  Au- 
gustine's soul  the  Pauline  experience  came  to  life 
again ;  his  thought  was  grasped  from  within, 
and  through  his  great  interpreter  he  became  in  part 
available  for  Christians  at  large.  But  with  grave 
distortions.  And  when,  a  second  time,  Paul's  spirit 
rose  in  the  soul  of  the  Augustinian  monk  Luther,  it 
was  still  too  much  mingled  with  Augustine's  inter- 
pretation of  him. 

Thus  it  is  with  the  rise  in  our  own  century  of  a 
biblical  theology,  on  purely  historical  lines  and  with 
the  sole  object  of  interpreting  the  Apostle's  soul,  that 
the  first  complete  appreciation  of  Paulinism  as  such 
has  been  consciously  attempted,  and  with  large  suc- 
cess. Each  of  the  other  New  Testament  types  is  re- 
ceiving like  attention ;  and  some  of  the  results  are 
indicated  in  the  pages  devoted  to  James,  Peter,  He- 
brews, John.  But  the  important  thing  is  to  notice 
that  the  effort  is  largely  a  new  one :  that  the  Apos- 
tolic Fathers,  and  so  the  development  of  ecclesiastical 
orthodoxy,  did  not  really  start  from  full  insight  into 
the  teaching  of  all  or  any  one  of  the  apostolic  types 
of  piety  or  doctrine.  They  started  rather  from  a 
sort  of  average  Christian  piety  and  doctrine,  the 
product  of  the  Gospel  in  minds  trained  for  the  most 
part  on  Grseco-Roman  notions  of  religion,  yet  in- 
fluenced also  by  the  Hellenistic  propaganda  in  the 
wake  of  which  the  preachers  of  the  Apostolic  Age 
did  the  bulk  of  their  evangelization.     This  being  so, 


508  The  Apostolic  Age. 

it  is  a  grave  error  to  assume  anything  like  full  or 
adequate  doctrinal  continuity  between  the  Apostolic 
Age  and  that  which  came  after.  The  exact  degree 
of  continuity  between  them  has  rather  to  be  ascer- 
tained by  far  more  rigorous  investigation  than  has 
yet  been  applied  to  the  problem.  But  in  any  case 
the  distinctive  features  of  the  Apostolic  Age  must 
ever  claim  special  attention  :  and  these  it  has  been 
our  endeavour  faithfully  to  set  forth. 


Literary  Appendix. 


ACTS. 

HILE  it  is  admitted  that  Luke  and  Acts 
are  from  the  same  pen,  the  linguistic 
similarity  betweeen  Luke  and  the 
"We  "  sections  of  Acts  (xvi.  10-17,  xx. 
5-15,  xxi.  1-18,  xxvii.  1-xxviii.  16,  to- 
gether with  much  else  in  xx.-xxviii.  16,  closely 
bound  up  with  the  sections  couched  in  the  first  per- 
son plural)  is  particularly  striking.  This  has  been 
worked  out  by  Rev.  Sir  J.  C.  Hawkins  {Horse 
Synopticse,  140  ff.),  who  calls  attention  to  the  words 
and  phrases  common  to  the  two  as  compared  even  with 
the  rest  of  Acts.  Assuming,  then,  that  the  writer 
did  not  disingenuously  seek  "  to  pass  for  one  of  Paul's 
companions,"  we  are  shut  up  to  one  of  two  alter- 
natives. The  author  of  Acts,  being  one  of  Paul's 
party  on  the  occasions  covered  by  the  "  We  "  pass- 
ages,1 either  used  an  earlier  "travel-document"  or 
simply  fell  into  the  first  person  when  freely  narrat- 
ing the  movements  of  a  party  to  which  he  had  be- 
longed.    In  either  case  his  testimony  is  that  of  an 

1  The  view  that  he  did  not  profess  this,  hut  clumsily  preserved 
the  "We  "  of  another's  narrative,  is  now  generally  and  rightly 
discredited  in  relation  to  a  writer  like  "Luke." 

509 


510  The  Apostolic  Age. 

eyewitness.  And  one  may  suggest  that  he  was  not 
unconscious  of  the  evidential  value  of  the  change  of 
form,  especially  in  the  eyes  of  the  noble  "  Theo- 
philus  "  whom  he  was  anxious  fully  to  satisfy  of  the 
facts  he  narrates  (Luke  i.  1-4). 

But  similar  linguistic  analysis  of  other  parts  of  Acts 
shows  such  deviations  from  the  average  Lucan  style 
(judged  by  aid  of  the  gospel  also),  as  to  point  to  the 
use  of  written  sources  by  the  author.  This  is  what 
Luke  i.  1  ff.  warns  us  to  expect,  and  what  internal 
evidence  supports  in  the  case  of  the  gospel.  As  we 
can  trace  in  it  a  "  special  source  "  (most  evident  in 
ix.  51-xviii.  14)  of  a  Judseo-Christian  type,  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  piety  that  breathes  in  i.-ii.  (which 
perhaps  belonged  to  it),  so  probably  is  it  with 
Acts.  Our  best  index  too  of  the  way  in  which 
Luke  has  treated  his  sources  in  Acts  is  afforded  by 
the  manner  in  which  he  has  modified  Mark's  narra- 
tive in  working  it  into  his  gospel.  That  is,  a  large 
part  of  a  source's  language,1  and  even  something  of 
its  style,  is  allowed  to  stand,  wherever  it  does  not 
offend  Luke's  more  exacting  taste  or  need  either 
epitomizing  or  explanatory  amplification  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  scope  or  readers  of  his  work. 

But  if  a  documentary  basis  is  manifest  in  the 
Judseo-Christian  tinge  of  the  first  half  of  Acts  (i.- 
xii.),  it  underlies  far  more — most  in  fact  of  all  prior 
to  the  first  "  We  "  passage  (xvi.  10  ff.),  and  a  good 

1  A  notable  instance,  running  through  both  gospel  and  Acts,  is 
the  occurrence  of  the  Hellenistic  form  for  Jerusalem  Qlepouffakijii) 
side  by  side  with  the  common  Greek  form  ([rdj  'lepoffoXupia), 
Luke's  own  word  in  free  narrative. 


Literary  Appendix.  511 

deal  of  what  lies  in  between  the  "  We  "  passages  as 
a  series.  Indeed  the  way  in  which  various  theolog- 
ical types  shine  through  the  narrative  in  Acts, 
points  to  the  use  of  several  written  sources.  John 
Mark,  Philip,  Titus  and  Silas  (for  xi.  19-30,  xiii- 
xv.,  and  parts  of  xvi.-xx.  4),  occur  to  mind  as  possible 
authors.  So  that  Acts  represents  the  coordination 
of  the  earlier  knowledge  of  the  Apostolic  Age  in  the 
mind  of  a  typical  Gentile  convert  of  the  Pauline 
mission.  He  makes  no  use  of  the  Pauline  Epistles, 
but  draws  such  knowledge  of  the  Pauline  Gospel  as 
he  has  from  actual  intercourse  with  the  Apostle  and 
his  helpers.  These  facts,  together  with  the  distinct 
portraiture  of  personalities  of  different  types,  and  a 
sense  of  movements  which  became  shadowy  even 
before  70  A.  D.,  converge  on  Luke  and  on  a  date 
about  75-80.  Comparison  of  its  opening  account 
of  the  Risen  Christ  with  the  end  of  Luke's  gospel 
prevents  us  from  making  Acts  follow  very  close  on 
the  gospel.  On  the  other  hand,  its  tone  suggests 
that  Rome  is  only  just  beginning  a  new  policy  to- 
wards the  Church,  and  that  tendencies  to  internal 
disunion  in  local  Churches  had  not  yet  caused  much 
development  beyond  the  primitive  leadership  of 
elders. 

The  Pastorals. 

As  regards  the  difficulty  of  finding  room  for  these 
letters  in  Paul's  known  career,  it  is  hoped  that  our 
text  furnishes  a  fair  working  hypothesis.  There  re- 
main two  main  types  of  difficulty.  The  first  lies  in 
the  ecclesiastical  conditions  implied.     It  is  shown, 


512  The  Apostolic  Age. 

however,  in  our  chapter  on  Organization  that  these 
are  not  really  so  developed  as  is  often  assumed,  but 
merely  imply  a  time  when  direct  Apostolic  oversight 
could  no  longer  be  counted  on.  The  second  class 
consists  of  difficulties  which  "  lie  in  the  field  of 
language  and  of  ideas  as  embodied  in  language." 
How  are  we  to  explain  the  broad  differences  of  style 
and  vocabulary  between  this  and  any  other  group  of 
Pauline  Epistles  ?  How,  too,  account  for  their  differ- 
ent religious  and  theological  emphasis,  the  indistinct 
Paulinism  of  their  thought? 

As  regards  the  problem  of  the  style  and  language,  its 
edge  is  already  turned  by  the  large  differences  among 
the  confessedly  Pauline  letters.  Obviously  we  have 
to  deal  with  a  writer  many-sided  and  versatile  in  ex- 
pression, adjusting  himself  readily  to  new  readers 
and  new  themes.  He  who  gives  up  the  case  against 
Colossians,  already  admits  principles  which  will 
carry  him  far  when  he  comes  to  the  Pastorals.  And 
the  more  closely  these  epistles  are  analysed,  the 
more  one  finds  an  underlying  element  of  identity 
in  the  average  texture  of  these,  as  of  all  Pauline 
epistles.  But  this  is  just  what  one  trying  to 
write  as  in  Paul's  person  at  a  later  date  would 
not  think  of  copying,  and  would  least  succeed 
in,  were  he  to  essay  the  task.  Still  the  degree 
of  idiosyncrasy  about  this  group  still  needs  ex- 
planation. Here  one  passes  from  the  mere  form 
to  the  contents.  It  is  not  enough  to  fall  back  on 
44  different  amanuenses  "  to  explain  such  large  con- 
trasts in  Paul's  correspondence.  He  is  too  much 
himself  on  every  occasion  to  justify  so  radical  an 


Literary  Appendix.  513 

application  of  what  may  be  used  modestly  as  a 
cause  of  variation,  when  all  else  has  been  taken  into 
account.  Besides,  these  epistles  being  addressed  to 
intimate  associates,  would  not  be  left  to  be  moulded 
by  the  habits  of  an  amanuensis.  But  this  very  con- 
sideration, namely  the  special  type  of  correspondence 
involved,  casts  its  own  light  on  the  problem.  We 
have  hitherto  had  nothing  like  them  in  conditions. 
They  are  bound  to  have  some  peculiar  features  in 
thought  as  in  style ;  for  they  grapple  with  new 
problems  and  are  meant  to  be  read,  not  to  a  popular 
audience,  but  by  friends  who  will  not  stumble  at 
abruptness  of  style  or  at  technical  terms.  Similarly 
the  use  of  terse  maxims,  introduced  with  a  formula 
like  "  Faithful  is  the  saying,"  is  quite  what  one  ex- 
pects in  a  letter  of  counsel  to  an  intimate.  And  the 
like  reflection  explains  why  Paul  here,  in  contrast 
to  his  other  letters,  does  "  not  so  much  argue  as  de- 
nounce." Timothy  and  Titus  did  not  need  to  be 
convinced  of  Paulinism  as  such,  but  only  confirmed 
in  their  work  of  convincing  others  of  it,  by  its 
author's  solemn  reiteration  of  its  divine  origin  and 
its  continued  fitness  amid  new  ideas  and  conditions. 
Technical  terms  would  naturally  be  used  in  the 
inner  circle  in  frequent  conference  on  current  de- 
velopments, but  only  gradually  begin  to  color  written 
addresses  to  churches.  So,  as  to  the  absence  of 
"  distinctively  Pauline  thought,"  one  must  remember 
that  these  epistles  are  meant  simply  to  remind  help- 
ers of  those  aspects  of  his  teaching  which  were  the 
truths  for  the  hour.  So  viewed,  many  phrases  which 
hardly  strike  the  reader's  attention  contain  allusively 
GG 


514  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

a  whole  world  of  Pauline  thought.  There  is  much 
justice  in  an  observation  of  Ramsay's :  "  The  differ- 
ence in  tone  and  spirit  of  the  Pastoral  from  the  rest 
of  the  Pauline  Epistles,  is  greatly  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  former  are  mainly  concerned  with  the 
practical  steps  in  an  early  congregation  [on  the 
threshold  of  an  era  of  full  adaptation  to  existing 
conditions],  while  the  latter  rather  exhibit  the  ideal 
to  be  striven  after."  Hence  a  certain  lapse  into 
prose. 

It  may  be  said  that  this  does  not  carry  us  all  the 
way;  that  in  fact  we  must  assume  liberal  interpola- 
tion or  reediting  of  genuine  Pauline  letters.  The 
possibility  is  a  real  one  with  letters  so  inorganic  as 
those  made  up  of  counsels  and  exhortations.  Such 
may  easily  grow  by  an  almost  insensible  process 
of  accretion.  The  only  question  is,  whether  any 
theory  of  large  interpolation  works  out  well  in  de- 
tail. To  this  the  answer  must  be  in  the  negative ; 
while  the  motives  assigned  for  the  manufacture  of 
the  personal  notices  found  in  all  three  epistles  are 
quite  arbitrary.  To  recognize,  as  many  critics  do, 
certain  clearly  Pauline  passages  (such  as  1  Tim.  i. 
12-17;  Titus  iii.  12  ff. ;  2  Tim.  i.  3-12,  15-18,  ii.  1, 
3-10,  iii.  10-12,  iv.  5  ff.,  to  name  only  some  of  the 
clearest),  is  already  a  mark  of  return  to  sounder 
critical  method.  But  reconstruction  can  hardly 
stop  at  that  point,  and  must  beware  of  a  too  rigid 
notion  of  Paulinism.  In  fact,  no  satisfactory  motives 
can  be  assigned  for  most  of  the  supposed  secondary 
matter;  if  a  second  century  interpolator  has  here 
been   at   work,  he    has   not   been  nearly  thorough- 


Literary  Appendix.  515 

going  enough  for  his  purpose.1  The  "  sound  doc- 
trine "  emphasized  is  the  morally  wholesome  rather 
than  the  orthodox ;  while  nothing  so  forces  even  the 
freest  faith  to  define  its  relation  to  the  historic  basis 
on  which  it  has  all  along  rested,  as  persistent  denials 
or  aberrations.  The  words,  "  I  have  kept  the  faith," 
in  a  highly  Pauline  passage  (2  Tim.  iv.  7),  must  be 
reckoned  with. 

It  is  from  the  purely  personal  and  historical 
touches  that  my  own  construction  has  been  built  up. 
I  hold  that,  in  any  case,  a  large  Pauline  basis  at 
least  underlies  each  of  the  Pastorals,  including  all  the 
personal  matter ;  that  the  attitude  towards  the  Ro- 
man State  (e.  </.,  in  1  Tim.  ii.  1  ff.)  is  incompatible  with 
the  period  between  64  and  the  death  of  Domitian  in 
96 ;  and  that  a  date  later  than  100  A.  D.  is  impossi- 
ble for  the  great  bulk  of  letters  that  show  no  trace 
of  monarchical  episcopate,  which  in  the  province  of 
Asia  began  to  take  distinct  form  by  the  first  decade 
of  the  second  century.  So  far,  criticism  has  been 
too  much  the  slave  of  fixed  ideas,  and  of  conven- 
tional notions  of  gnosis  and  episcopacy  derived  from 
the  second  century  and  later,  to  see  the  facts  of  the 
Pastorals  quite  steadily  as  a  whole. 

The  Didache. 

The  origins  of  our  Didache  seem  to  be  as  follows : 

1.     A    primitive    Judseo-Christian     Two    Ways  = 

Did.  i.-vi.,  save  i.  3,  1.  2— ii.  1.     Perhaps  too,  the  last 

1  See  Zahn's  remarks  in  his  Einleitung,  \  37,  summarized  in 
American  Journal  of  Theology,  ii.  667  ff. 


516  The  Apostolic  Aye. 

clause  of  v.  2  is  a  tag  due  to  the  later  "  Apostolic  "  re- 
cension; since  "May  ye,  children,"  etc.,  is  the  solitary 
plural  address  in  the  "  Two  Ways  "  and  is  absent  from 
Barnabas.  Even  in  this  form  the  work  probably 
arose  in  Greek  (cf.  the  technical  terms  ii.  4,  iii.  4,  e.  g., 
TzspiKaOaipmv) :  and  its  date  may  fall  about  50  A.  D. 
(if  vi.  2,  3  is  original,  cf.  Acts  xv.  19  f.).  As  to 
locality,  two  opinions  are  held,  according  as  one  at- 
tends most  to  its  inclusion  in  our  Didache,  which  is 
Syrian,  or  to  its  widespread  use  in  Egyptian  docu- 
ments like  the  Eccles.  Canons  and  the  Life  of  Schnudi 
(fifth  century).  As  these  latter,  as  well  as  Barnabas 
and  the  Latin  Fragment,  ignore  i.  3,  1.  2— ii.  1,  we 
may  suppose  that  the  Tivo  Ways  was  in  currency  some 
time  before  this  section  was  added :  see  below. 

2.  The  second  stage  is  marked  by  the  casting  of 
the  manual  into  the  second  person  plural.  This 
meant  changing  it  from  a  description  of  the  "  Two 
Ways,"  put  in  the  concrete  personal  form  "  Thou 
shalt"  (addressed  to  an  ideal  pupil,  "my  child," 
after  the  maimer  of  the  Wisdom  literature),  into  an 
actual  exhortation  to  Christians  in  general.  The 
change  first  appears  towards  the  end  of  the  original 
"Two  Ways"  (v.  2),  in  the  words,  "May  you,  chil- 
dren, be  delivered  from  all  these  things ; "  and  con- 
tinues throughout  Did.  vii.-xvi.  As  to  the  date  of 
this  enlarged  edition,  now  perhaps  set  forth  as 
"  Teaching  of  the  Lord  through  the  Twelve  Apos- 
tles "  (cf.  2  Pet.  iii.  2),  we  seem  to  have  documentary 
proof1  dating  from  at  least  early  in  68  A.  D.  (prob- 

1  The  Christian  section  of  the  Ascensio  Isaix  (iii.  21),  discussed 
further  od. 


Literary  Appendix.  517 


ably  65-66),  that  by  this  time  the  notion  of  "  the 
teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  "  as  standard  Chris- 
tian doctrine  was  prevalent.  Moreover,  the  strong 
polemic  of  the  Ascension  of  Isaiah  against  spiritual 
degeneracy  among  the  leaders  in  particular,  o wing- 
to  impure  motives  such  as  love  of  money,  pride,  and 
consequent  jealousy  and  rivalry  (see  p.  522),  points  to 
a  state  of  things  just  beginning  to  be  felt  when  the 
second  part  of  our  Didache  took  shape.  That  there 
is  nothing  in  the  doctrine  of  even  Did.  vii.-xvi.  alien 
to  a  date  as  early  as  c.  65  A.  D.,  has  been  shown  by  our 
exposition  in  the  text.  That  Barnabas  affords  only 
one  echo  of  it  (viz.  iv.  9,  of  Did.  xvi.  2),  simply 
means  that  it  was  not  to  his  purpose,  and  not  wholly 
to  his  mind.  Did.  vii.-xvi.,  then,  was  probably 
added  a  few  years  before  68  A.  D. 

3.  We  have  yet  to  deal  with  i.  3,  1.  2-ii.  1 ;  and 
can  here  only  say  summarily  that  it  seems  the  result 
of  three  sets  of  minor  additions,  adjusting  the  state- 
ment of  the  Law  of  Neighborly  Duty  to  a  growing 
moral  sense.  All  of  them  (  (i.)  i.  4-5,  1.  3*  [?+  vi.  2, 
3  ]:  (ii.)  i.  3:  (iii.)  i.  5,  1.  3b-ii.  1)  may  be  placed 
after  Barnabas  (i.  e.,  after  71  A.  D.),  the  earliest  not 
long  after.  For  the  phenomena  of  evangelic  quota- 
tion in  them  point  to  the  use  of  a  body  of  Logia  (oral 
or  written)  differing  in  text  from  both  Matthew  and 
Luke,  but  nearer  to  the  latter.  This  fact  would  also 
make  us  regard  additions  (i.)  and  (ii.)  as  almost 
contemporary. 

Conspectus  of  results : 

(1)  Two  Ways  [c.  50  A.  T>.]=Did.  i.  1-3,  1. 1,  ii. 
2-vi.  (?vi.  1). 


518  The  Apostolic  Age. 


(2)  Aida^rj  Kvpioo  dm  ru>v  ift    'tzootoXw;  [c.  65  A.  D.] 

=2  wo  Ways -{-Did.  vii.-xvi. 

(3)  The  Didache  c.  72-80  (90)-Our  Didache,  with 
the  present  fuller  title. 

In  support  of  the  early  date  here  assigned  to  the 
completed  work,  one  may  note  that  Funk  and  Light- 
foot  agree  upon  the  last  quarter  of  the  century.  To 
the  features  relied  on  by  the  latter  {Philippians, 
1890,  p.  349  f.)— the  Eucharistic  simplicity,  "the 
temporary  and  the  permanent  ministry  working  side 
by  side,"  the  absence  of  trace  of  the  episcopal  office 
as  distinct  from  the  presbyteral— I  would  add  the 
absence  of  clear  differentiation  between  "bishops 
and  deacons,"  of  any  trace  of  persecution,  of  any 
theological  tendency  or  polemic.  This  is  the  more 
notable  in  view  of  the  impulse  to  bring  the  manual 
up  to  date,  visible  in  chapter  i. 

2.Peter. 

As  regards  the  relation  of  this  epistle  to  Jade,  its 
dependence  seems  almost  certain.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  much  in  chapter  i.  and  the  latter  part  of  chap- 
ter iii.  which  sounds  truly  Petrine.1  Thus  the  case 
on  either  side — for  total  denial  and  total  assertion  of 
Peter's  authorship — ceases  to  convince  just  when  it 

1  "  Symeon  Peter,  a  servant  and  apostle  of  Jesus  [Christ],"  is  an 
opening  unlikely  to  corne  from  any  save  Peter  himself  (contrast 
1  Pet.  i.  1,  and  see  Acts  xv.  14).  And  yet  this  seems  the  true 
text  (B  and  some  cursives  have  the  commoner  Simon).  Observe 
too  the  familiar  way  in  which  the  writer  associates  himself  with 
his  readers  by  the  use  of  "us"  and  "our"  in  i.  1-4,  (contrast 
the  absence  of  "our"  before  "  Lord"  in  ii.  20,  iii.  2):  while  in 
i.  16-18  the  plural  seems  that  of  collective  Apostolic  witness. 


Literary  Appendix  519 

begins  to  apply  to  the  whole  epistle  the  view  based  on 
the  part  on  which  it  lays  stress.  This  suggests  that 
each  may  be  right  within  its  own  limits,  but  wrong 
beyond.  And  it  must  be  allowed  that,  if  one  omits 
ii.  1 — iii.  7  (13),1  the  rest  reads  quite  consecutively ; 
while  most  objections  to  its  Petrine  origin  fall  away. 

The  omission  certainly  tends  to  unify  the  thought. 
For  chapter  i.  has  in  view  simply  doubts  created  by 
the  unexpected  delay  of  the  Parousia,  such  as  would 
arise  with  the  deaths  of  several  Apostolic  witnesses 
(e.  <j.,  James  and  Paul)  :  and  this  is  the  line  of 
thought  continued  in  iii.  8  (14)  ff.  Chapter  ii.,  on  the 
other  hand,  plunges  at  once  into  the  immorality  of 
certain  "false  teachers,"  without  any  reference  to 
the  Parousia  at  all.  It  is  true  that-iu  iii.  3  f.  this 
motive  is  introduced  :  but  there,  in  contrast  to  chap- 
ter i.,  a  date  later  than  Peter's  own  life  is  suggested 
by  the  allusion  to  "  the  fathers  "  as  long  fallen  asleep. 
Nor  does  ii.  1.— iii.  7  connect  itself  other  than  quite 
loosely  with  the  end  of  chapter  i.,  going  off  from 
true  to  false  prophets  and  changing  the  subject. 

Perhaps,  then,  chapter  ii.  was  added  (in  the  usual 
"apocalyptic  future")  by  another  hand,  adapting 
Jude's  message  to  the  growing  needs  of  the 
churches,  probably  in  North  Syria.  This  was  occa- 
sioned, partly  by  Peter's  expressed  intention  of  re- 
minding them,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  truth  for  the 

1  If,  as  is  quite  possible,  an  original  Petrine  letter  has  not  only 
received  one  large  addition,  but  has  been  worked  over  and  ad- 
justed throughout  to  new  needs,  then  perhaps  all  or  part  of  iii. 
8-13  is  from  the  later  hand  (to  which  also  the  expansion  of  i.  12 
in  13-15  may  be  due). 


520  The  Apostolic  Aye. 


hour  (i.  12  ff.);  and  partly  by  Jude's  reference  to 
Apostolic  teaching  as  the  basis  of  his  own  reminder 
as  to  Christian  duty.  Thus  iii.  1-4  seems  to  com- 
bine i.  12-15  and  Jude  17  f. ;  while  the  late  date  of 
the  whole  added  section  (ii.  1— iii.  7)  is  proved  by  the 
scoffers'  reference  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Christian 
Churches  as  already  some  time  dead,  language  inap- 
propriate to  any  period  before  70  A.  D.  at  earliest. 
On  the  other  hand,  granting  that  all  save  ii.  1-iii.  7 
is  Peter's  own,  its  contrast  to  1  Peter— apologizing 
for  delay,  while  the  latter  boldly  says  the  End  is  al- 
ready imminent — implies  its  priority  to  1  Peter. 
What  lies  in  between  would  seem  to  be  Peter's  Ro- 
man experience  of  the  infatuate  conduct  of  Nero, 
the  world's  master. 

Hence,  dating  1  Peter  about  63  (late)-64  (early), 
we  may  put  the  genuine  2  Peter  (i.  +  iii.  8  (14)— end) 
c.  62-63,  i.  e.,  just  before  Peter  left  North  Syria  or 
soon  after  he  reached  Rome.  Jude  would  come  some 
years  later,  while  his  brother's  name  was  yet  potent 
among  the  Syrian  Diaspora  (v.  1),  say  a  few  years 
before  or  after  70.  The  apocalyptic  section  (ii.  1-iii. 
7  [13])  may  come  a  good  deal  later.  Nor  is  the  refer- 
ence in  iii.  15  f.,  to  the  writings  of  "our  beloved 
brother  Paul,"  so  adverse  to  Petrine  authorship  as  is 
often  supposed.  By  implication,  and  so  only,  Paul's 
epistles  are  classed  with  "  scriptures  "  in  a  general 
sense  as  sacred  writings,  much  as  Jude  treats  certain 
non-canonical  works  as  authoritative.  It  only  re- 
mains to  add  that  the  linguistic  affinity  which  cer- 
tainly exists  between  ii.  1-iii.  7  and  the  rest  of  2 
Peter,  is  not  sufficient  to  refute  the  theory  here  sug- 


Literary  Appendix.  521 

gested.  For  the  later  writer  would  naturally  be  a 
diligent  student  of  an  epistle  on  which  he  engrafted 
amplifying  additions.  Should  this  theory  ultimately 
prove  untenable,  the  only  alternative  must  surely  be 
that  the  whole  epistle  is  based  on  Jude  by  a  Christian 
of  the  sub-Apostolic  rather  than  the  Apostolic  Age. 

The  Epistle  of  Barnabas. 
The  best  reckoning  of  the  ten  emperors  of 
Barnabas  iv.  4,  and  of  the  little  king  arising  as  a 
side -growth  to  humble  at  one  stroke  three  of  the 
kings  (horns  of  the  Beast),  is  Ramsay's  modification 
of  Weizsacker's  and  Lightfoot's  views.  The  latter 
agree  in  enumerating  the  ten  Caesars  in  their  natural 
sequence  (from  Julius),  and  arrive  at  Vespasian  as 
the  tenth.  Ramsay  observes  that  under  Vespasian, 
who  claimed  to  avenge  and  follow  Galba,  few  would 
regard  Otho  and  Vitellius  other  than  as  mere  usurp- 
ers. Omitting  them,  he  sees  in  Vespasian  and  his 
sons,  Titus  and  Domitian,  the  "three  kings"  to  be 
humbled  by  antichrist,  Nero  redivivus.  This  is  bet- 
ter than  Lightfoot's  view,  which  has  to  fuse  the 
three  Flavii  into  one  sovereign,  viz,  Vespasian  as  tenth 
emperor.  But  in  any  case  the  era  70-79  A.  D.,  as 
that  in  which  Barnabas  was  written,  seems  now 
finally  assured. 

The  Ascension  of  Isaiah,  iii.  13-iv.  21. 
The   Ascension  of  Isaiah  being  but  little  known, 
the  pertinent  part  may  be  quoted  at  length.1     After 

1  After  Dillmann's  Latin  version  of  the  Ethiopic,  in  which  alone 
this  section  survives.  The  original  Greek  of  the  whole  work  is  at 
present  lost. 


522  The  Apostolic  Age. 

a  description  of  the  first  coming  of  Messiah  (here 
called  "Beloved  "),  His  resurrection,  and  the  sending 
forth  of  His  twelve  disciples,  we  read  that 

"  Many  who  shall  believe  on  Him  shall  speak  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  many  signs  and  wonders  shall  be  done  in  those  days. 
And  then,  on  the  eve  of  His  approach  (i.  e.,  Second  Advent),  His 
disciples  shall  let  go  the  teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  and 
their  faith  and  love  and  holiness ;  and  there  shall  be  much  con- 
tention touching  His  Advent  and  touching  His  nearness.  And 
in  those  days  there  shall  be  many  lovers  of  gifts,  though  devoid 
of  wisdom  ;  and  there  shall  be  many  elders  doing  unjustly  and 
shepherds  oppressors  of  their  sheep;  and  in  their  folly  they  shall 
rend  the  holy  flock.  .  .  .  And  there  shall  be  many  back- 
biters, and  vainglory,  on  the  eve  of  the  Lord's  approach  ;  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  shall  withdraw  from  many.  Nor  shall  there  be  in 
those  days  many  prophets  nor  such  as  shall  speak  things  that 
stand  sure,  save  one  here  and  another  there,  by  reason  of  the 
Spirit  of  error  and  fornication  and  vainglory  and  love  of  money, 
which  shall  be  in  those  styled  His  servants  and  in  those  who 
shall  receive  Him.  And  there  shall  be  among  them  great  hatred, 
in  pastors  and  in  elders  mutually.  For  great  ill-will  shall  exist 
in  the  last  days." 

Then  intervenes  a  sentence  or  two  imperfectly 
preserved 1  but  pointing  to  approaching  crisis,  which 
is  described  as  follows : 

"  And  after  it  hath  come  about,  there  shall  descend  Berial,  the 
great  Angel,  King  of  this  world,2  over  which  he  hath  rule 
since  its  origin  ;  and  he  shall  descend  from  his  own  firmament3 

1  Iu  one  MS.  we  get  traces  of  "  men  (shall  scoff  at  a  near  end)  of 
the  world  and  shall  speak  vanity  ;  "  so  reminding  of  Jude's  scof- 
fers in  the  last  time  (v.  18). 

sComp.  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  John  xiv.  30,  for  this  conception  of  Satan. 

3  It  was  generally  believed,  in  keeping  with  the  current  astro- 
nomical doctrine  of  seven  concentric  circles  or  firmaments  about 
the  earth  as  centre,  that  each  firmament  had  its  own  special  den- 
izens, Satan's  being  the  second  or  fifth  (cf.  Eev.  xii.  7  f.;  Luke 
x.  18). 


Literary  Appendix.  523 

in  the  semblance  of  a  man,  an  unrighteous  king,  a  matricide 
(Nero)— this  is  the  king  of  this  world— and  the  plant  which  the 
Twelve  Apostles  of  Beloved  planted  he  shall  persecute  ;  and  of 
the  Twelve  there  shall  be  delivered  into  his  hand  1  (e.  g.,  Peter). 
This  angel  Berial  shall  come  in  the  semblance  of  that  king,  and 
there  shall  come  with  him  all  the  forces  of  this  world  and  shall 
obey  him  in  all  that  he  shall  will.  And  at  his  word  the  sun 
shall  rise  by  night,'2  and  the  moon  also  he  shall  cause  to  appear 
at  noontide  ;  and  all  that  he  willeth  shall  he  do  in  the  world. 
He  shall  act  and  speak  like  Beloved,  and  shall  say,3  '  I  am  God 
and  before  me  was  not  any.'  And  all  men  in  the  world  shall  be- 
lieve on  him,  and  shall  sacrifice  to  him  and  serve  him,  saying, 
'  This  is  God  and  beside  him  is  no  other.'  And  a  very  large  part 
of  those  who  were  banded  together  to  receive  Beloved  (on  his  Re- 
turn) shall  he  turn  away  after  himself.  And  there  shall  be  power 
of  working  his  marvels4  in  various  cities  and  districts:  and  he 
shall  set  up  his  own  image  before  his  face  in  all  cities  (of.  Rev. 
xiii.  14  f.).  And  he  shall  rule  three  years  and  seven  months  and 
twenty-seven  days.  And  as  for  the  many  believers  and  saints 
.  .  .  of  them  few  shall  be  left  in  those  days  as  His  servants, 
fleeing  from  solitude  to  solitude,  in  expectation  of  His  Advent. 
And  after  1,332  days  the  Lord  shall  come  with  His  angels  and 
with  the  forces  of  the  Saints  from  the  seventh  heaven,  with  the 
glory  of  the  seventh  heaven,  and  shall  commit  Berial  to  Ge- 
henna, and  likewise  his  forces." 

Then  follows  an  account  of  the  reward  of  the 
faithful  and  the  end  of  the  world,  cited  above 
(p.  341). 

1  This  seems  to  be  said  of  Berial,  rather  than  of  the  matricide 
Nero,  just  named  as  his  special  human  manifestation.  But  in 
either  case  it  seems  unnatural  to  separate  in  time  between  Berial's 
deeds  (through  Nero)  and  those  which  follow,  viz,  the  final  times 
of  Antichrist.  Hence  the  date  of  the  real  Nero  does  seem  the 
date  of  our  apocalyptist. 

•This  typical  marvel  is  given,  in  the  Pseudo-Philoncan  Book  of 
Biblical  Antiquities  (end  of  first  century),  as  the  means  by  which  a 
Midianite  priest  and  magician  beguiled  Israel  into  idolatry. 

3Comp.  2  Thess.  ii.  4;  Rev.  xiii.  5  ;  and  for  the  effect  2  Thess. 
ii.  3;  Rev.  xiii.  4,8,  12. 

«Comp.  2  Thess.  ii.  9  ;  Rev.  xiii.  14,  xix.  20  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  24. 


524  The  Apostolic  Age. 


As  to  the  period  of  Antichrist's  reign,  it  is  no 
doubt  related  to  the  conventional  reckoning  of  the 
final  distress,  and  may  originally  have  corresponded 
more  exactly  to  that  in  Dan.  xii.  7,  11  f.  But  the 
eccentric  period  found  in  the  text  seems  to  refer  to 
the  actual  space  between  the  Neronian  martyrdoms 
in  the  autumn  of  64  (apparently  Oct.  13th,  Nero's 
Accession  day)  and  Nero's  death  on  June  9th,  68 
A.  D.  If  this  be  so,  the  modification  of  the  original 
figures  can  only  have  taken  place  immediately  after 
Nero's  death ;  for  the  prediction  would  soon  be  seen 
to  have  falsified  itself.  Perhaps  the  reading  of  two 
manuscripts,  3,032  days,  may  be  a  final  effort  to  save 
the  credit  of  the  prophecy.  The  Neronian  date  of  the 
original  is  supported  by  (1)  its  strong  Judseo-Chris- 
tian  tinge — whether  in  its  Christology  and  the  prim- 
itive account  of  Beloved's  earthly  life,  in  certain  of 
its  subordinate  conceptions,  or  finally  in  its  speaking 
of  "the  Twelve,"  without  a  hint  of  Paul's  activity  ; 
(2)  the  absence  of  any  hint  of  retribution  on  "  the 
sons  of  Israel "  for  slaying  Beloved,  such  as  that 
visible  in  the  events  of  70  A.  D.  We  may,  then,  as- 
sign the  section  to  64-68,  and  preferably  to  65-66. 

The  Fourth   Gospel. 

The  fourth  gospel  does  not  aim  at  tracing  the 
actual  course  of  the  Saviour's  earthly  life.  Rather 
it  sets  forth  the  great  moral  factors  making  for 
belief  or  unbelief  in  the  drama  of  salvation  through 
the  manifested  Life,  Light,  or  Truth  of  God.  Certain 
typical  cases  from  Messiah's  earthly  life  are  given ; 


Literary  Appendix.  525 

and  these  stand  out  with  the  vivid  clearness  char- 
acteristic of  early  memories  in  one  now  aged.  But 
it  is  on  their  representative  significance  that  the 
emphasis  falls.  This  is  just  what  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria1 states  as  having  reached  him  from  "the 
elders  of  earlier  days,"  namely  that  "John,  last  of 
all,  being  conscious  that  the  external  (lit.  'bodily') 
facts  had  been  made  plain  in  the  (other)  gospels,  at 
the  solicitation  of  his  familiar  friends  composed  a 
spiritual  gospel  under  the  Spirit's  inspiration."  Its 
actual  relation  to  the  Synoptic  type  of  narrative  yet 
further  confirms  the  view  we  have  taken.  For  it  is 
boldly  independent  and  at  the  same  time  supple- 
mental in  matters  of  fact.  This  comes  out  most 
strongly  in  the  Judaean  ministry,  on  which  the 
Synoptists  are  silent  but  which  they  really  imply, 
notably  in  the  words,  "  Oh,  Jerusalem  .  .  .  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  .  .  . 
but  ye  would  not "  (Matt,  xxiii.  37).  But  such 
innovation  on  the  long-rooted  Synoptic  account — 
and  there  are  other  and  harder  cases 2 — could  have 
gained  acceptance  only  on  the  highest  authority, 
that  of  a  surviving  Apostle  of  supreme  influence. 
John's  position  at  Ephesus  in  the  closing  decade  of 
the  first  century,  and  this  alone,  seems  to  clear  up 
the  innumerable  problems  of  the  fourth  gospel. 
Once  one  realizes  the  process  of  "  translation,"  as  it 
has   been    called,3   that  would  naturally  go    on   in 

1  In  Euseb.  Hist.  Eccles.,  vi.  14 :  cf.  the  Muratorian  Canon. 

2  E.  g.,  the  first  call  of  Andrew,  John,  and  Peter,  and  the  char- 
acter and  date  of  the  Last  Supper. 

3  In  Dr.  Watkins'  Modern  Criticism  and  the  Fourth  Gospel,  426 
ff.,  where  this  point  is  excellently  worked  out. 


526  The  Apostolic  Age. 

John's  mind,  as  he  strove  during  some  twenty  years 
to  interpret  to  the  Greek  mind  the  witness  which 
first  came  to  him  in  Hebraic  forms  of  speech  and 
thought,  one  can  see  how  the  gospel  reached  its 
present  form  in  the  history  of  a  single  life. 


INDEX. 


Abtalion,  244n. 

Achaeans,  108n. 

Achaicus,  137,  140. 

Acilius  Glabrio,  415. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  a  historical 

source,  vii. 

its  author,  x.,  1. 

its  chronology,  xiii.  sq. 

its  opening  features,  1  sq. 

why  so  short,  168. 

probably  read  in  Rome,  A. 

D.  95,  416n. 
Literary  Appendix  on,  509 

sq. 
Acts  of  Barnabas,  313u.,  375n. 
Acts  of  Paul  and  Thecla,  76. 
iEueas  in  Lydda,  41. 
Agabus,  50,  217. 
Agape,  the  love  feast,  322,  325, 

465  sq.,  468  sq. 

its  danger  and  abuse,  348. 

AgrippaL,  217,  232. 

Agrippa  II.,   170,   173,  261,  270, 

271,  274,  292. 
Agrippina,  184. 
Albinus,  the  procurator,  203,  212, 

213. 
Allegorical  teaching,  381,  382. 
Alexander  at  Ephesus,  148,  199n. 
Alexandrine  Church,  121n. 

thought,  132,  282,  376  sq. 

Alms,  337. 

Altar,  God's,  468n. 

Ainphipolis,  100. 

Ananias  and  Sapphira,  24. 

Ananias,  Jewish  merchant,  43u. 

Ananus,   the  younger,   208,  212, 

265. 
Anathema,  Maran  atha,  140. 
Andronicus,  215. 
Anencletus,  Roman  bishop,  457. 
Angel  of  the  Church,  404n. 


Angelic  agency  as  a  source  of 
temptation,  345  sq. 

Annianus,  367n. 

Anti-Christ,  as  he  seemed  to  St. 
John,  421. 

his  period  as  viewed  later, 

524. 

Anti-Judaism,  378  sq. 

Antinomianism,  243,  439. 

Antioch,  46,  47  sq.,  52,  81, 
233. 

Antioch  in  Pisidia,  69,  70,  71,  72, 
75,  76,  79. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  404. 

Antipas,  399. 

Antipatris,  164. 

Antonia,  162. 

Apphia,  192. 

Apion,  the  Alexandrine  scholar, 
xxiii. 

Apocalypse,  its  parallels  in  Wis- 
dom-literature, 359. 

its  shape  and  principle,  388 

sq.,  406  sq. 

of    St.  John,    the    Divine, 

389  sq. 

its   probable  key,  392  sq., 

407. 

its  date,  404. 

its  historical  value,  xi.,  169, 

415. 

sent  as  identical   letter  to 

the  seven  churches,  405. 

danger  from  its  being  mis- 
understood, 407. 

gives  analogies  and  not  ful- 
filments, 407. 

Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  295n,  321, 
501  n. 

Apollonia,  100. 

Apollonius  of  Tyana,  67n. 

Apollos  at  Ephesus,  121. 


527 


528 


Index. 


Apollos  at  Corinth,  122,  132,  136, 
137,  138,  141,  183,  184. 

if  related  to  the  Epistle  to  the 

Hebrews,  281  sq. 

Apology  of  Aristides,  253u. 

Apostle,  the  qualifications  of  one, 
11,  215. 

Apostles,  their  Jewish  piety, 
18. 

opposition  to  them,  18,  25, 

215. 

their    release    from  prison, 

25n. 

in  public  jail,  25. 

■ number,  215  sq. 

false,  215. 

Apostolic  Age  defined,  vii. 

sources     for     its     history, 

ix.  sq. 

non-Christian  sources  of  in- 
formation upon,  xii.,  xiii. 

Apostolical  Constitutions,  253n., 
313n.,  314,  353n. 

Apostolic  ministry,  3n. 

Aquila,  300,  467. 

Aquila  and  Priscilla,  109,  119, 
120,  140,  177n. 

at  Ephesus,  120. 

Archippus,  192. 

Archisynagogi,  452n. 

Archons,  Jewish,  80u. 

Areopagus,  105. 

Aristarchus,  147,  191. 

Aristobulus,  197n. 

Ariston  of  Pella,  294. 

Artemas,  183. 

Artemis  or  Diana,  at  Ephesus, 
125  sq.,  146,  148. 

Ascension,  its  relation  to  the  re- 
surrection, 2. 

Ascension  of  Isaiah,  310,  322,  328, 
331,338,  339n.,  341,  350,  373n., 
377,  393n.,  516n.,  517. 

Literary   appendix  on,   521 

sq. 

Asceticism,  190n. 

Assassins,  The,  207. 

Assos,  135. 

Assumption  of  3foses,  346. 

Athenian  Agora,  103,  104, 105. 


Athens,  a  free  allied  city-state, 

108. 
Attaleia,  81. 
Atticus,  296. 
Augustine,  507. 
Azizu8,  167. 

Babylon,  297,  298. 

Bacon,  Prof.  B.  W.,  xiii.n. 

Balaam,  347u. 

Baptism,  forms  of,  472n. 

early   calls  to,   15,  36,   121, 

312,  313. 

messianic,  36,  286. 

of  Cornelius  and  his  com- 
pany, 44. 

John's,  121,  123. 

of  repentance,  123. 

by  the  Spirit,  286. 

as  in  Didache,  313  sq. 

its  idea  and  teaching,  461  sq. 

of  infants,  472,  473. 

Barbarians,  the,  174. 

Barcochba,  294. 

Barnabas  (Joseph),  24,  27u.,  39, 

48,   51,   59,  72,  74,  79,  83,  86, 

89,  281,  298n.,  356n.,  360,  366. 

introduced  St.  Paul,  48. 

his  vacillation,  60n. 

on  first  missionary  journey, 

64  sq. 

at  Lystra,  78. 

separates     from    Paul,    92, 

367. 

an  Apostle,  216. 

epistle,    xii.,    2-4,      342n., 

373  sq. 
his   tradition   as  connected 

with  St.  Peter,  367  sq. 

prophet,  64. 

Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  2,  252n.,  314, 

338,  340n.,  342n.,  360,   373  sq., 

515,  516,  517,  521. 

its  date,  373,  374,  387,  405. 

its  authorship,  374,  375, 376, 

377. 

its  place  of  origin,  378  sq. 

its  relation  to  the  Epistle  to 

the  Hebrews,  378. 
— —  Anti-Judaistic,  377  sq. 


Index. 


529 


Bamubas,  Epistle  of,  its  view  of 
the  Jewish  institutions,  384  sq. 

its  teaching  evangelic,  385u. 

millennia),  387. 

its  reckoning  of  the  ten  em- 
perors, 521. 

Baruch,  275n. 

Beast,  apocalyptic,  the  Koman 
power,  391,  392,  395. 

Benedicius,  222. 

Beroea,  102,  103. 

Berenice,  270,  274. 

Berial,  341,  522,  523. 

Bethabara,  293. 

Beyschlag,  398u. 

Blessed  arid  Cursed  Life,  252u. 

Bishop,  335,  336,  422,  450,  477. 

his  power,  422. 

type  was  changing,  450,  458, 

477  sq.,  482  sq. 

its  idea  of  oversight,  482. 

as  a  development,  490  sq. 

Book  of  Biblical  Antiquities,  523d. 

Book  of  Enoch,  xxxv.,  321,  346, 
373n.,  378,  386n. 

Bryennios,  250. 

Burrus,  184. 


Caesar,  Flavian  line,  374. 

Julian  line,  392. 

Caesarea,  the   chief  city,  36,  42, 

157,  167,  175,211,  212,  261  sq., 

288n.,  293. 
Caesar's  household,  197n. 
Caligula,  203. 
Campbell,  Prof.  L.,  xix.n. 
Carpus,  193. 
Catechesis,  oral  teaching,  xii.,354, 

355  sq. 
Catholic  Epistles,  the,  xi. 
Cenchreae,  118. 
Cephas  (Peter),  132,  137,  138. 
Cerinthus   the  heretic,   430   sq., 

435. 
Cestius  Gallus,  263,  264,  293. 
Charisma,  95,  244,  330,  332. 
Charity,  the  early  Christian,  23, 

24n.,  50,  51. 
Chiliarch,  tribune,  162. 


Cheyne,  Jewish  Religious  Life  after 

the  Exile,  19u. 
Chios,  155. 
Chloe,  137,  138. 
Chrestus,  109. 
Christ,  His  promises,  2,  90. 

His  resurrection,  4  sq.,  21. 

was  installed  as  Messiah,  9. 

His  relation  to  Judaism,  16, 

17. 

was  the  centre  of  teaching, 

44,  90,  423. 

His  own  revealer,  90. 

His  early  coming,   113,  309 

sq.,  342. 
His  divinity,  189,  190. 

His  expected  return,  277  sq., 

309  sq.,  342,  472. 

as  presented  by  St.  Luke, 

416. 

His  opponent  in  the  Anti- 
christ, 421,  424. 

as  the  Incarnate  One,  423 

sq.,  435. 

St.  John  dwells  upon  the 

Incarnation,  428. 

His  baptism,  and  its  relation 

to  Docetism,  430. 
the  Word  and  the  Life,  434 

sq. 
the  One  Saviour  for  Jew  and 

Gentile,  502  sq. 
Christian,  the  new  name,  48,  49. 

sacrifice,  334. 

Christianity,    estimated     in     its 

earlier   phrases,    xiv.    sq.,  412 

sq.,  442. 

one,    but    covering    many 

types,  xviii. 

its  message  to  the  Gentiles, 

xix.,  254. 

was  it  to  be  national  or  uni- 
versal, 53. 

its  essential  idea,  53. 

in  Palestine,  213  sq.,  254  sq. 

—  why  opposed  by  the  Roman 
authority,  411  sq. 

a  "criminal   obstinacy"  to 

the  Roman  power,  412,  sq. 

spread  early  at  Rome,  442. 


530 


Index. 


Christianity  a  fellowship  of  love,  | 

464,  476  sq.,  493. 
Christians,  their  earliest  views,  9  j 
sq.,  205. 

were  by  the  Spirit  called  to 

be  witnesses,  9,  10,  23,  277. 
cause  of  their  earliest  perse- 
cution, 20  sq.,  27  sq.,  37,  214 
sq.,  413. 

their  unity,  24,  27. 

their  later  trials,  277  sq. 

from  Jewish  proselytes,  302. 

the  true  Israelites,  302. 

their  dangers  and  subter- 
fuges, 418. 
Christophanies,  5  sq. 
Chronology  of  the  Apostolic  Age, 
xiii.,  52  sq.,  65,  136,  137,  140, 
149,  152,  154,  172n.,  179,  184, 
200,  203,  217,  233,  251,  266, 
274,  289,  291.  292,  294,  306, 
310,  311,  314,  328,  329,  339, 
340,  344,  347,  371,  414,  442, 
469,    511,    524. 

table  of,  xiv. 

Church,  as  an  institution,  3,  24, 
27,  80,  189,  203  sq.,  478. 

is  first  scattered,  33,  37. 

her  first  peace,  40. 

in  Antioch,  47  sq. 

of  Jew  and  Gentile,  154. 

types  of  doctrines  in,  497  sq. 

its  order  is  a  growth,  478  sq. 

its  gradual  organising,  481 

sq. 
Church  in  Palestine,  203  sq. 
Cilicia,  69,  93,  165. 
Circumcision,  question  upon, 43a., 

82sq.,85sq.,88,  226,228. 
Claudia,  193. 
Claudius  Lysias,  162,   163,   164, 

166. 
Clement,  195,  383. 
third  Roman  bishop,  457. 

I.  Clement,  201,  202,  253n.,   305, 
306,  443  sq. 

its  special  teaching,  443  sq. 

II.  Clement,  385n. 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  298,  306, 
401n. 


Clementine  Homilies,  313n,  375n. 

Clementine  Recognitions,  435n. 

Cleopatra,  274. 

Claudius,  Emperor,  203. 

Codex  Bezse,  story  from,  17u. 

Colossse,  185,  191. 

Colossians,  Epistle  to  the,  168,  178, 

185,  186,  187,  189,  193,  198. 
Collection  for  the  poor  saints,  120, 

139,  144,  150,  151,  161. 
Communion  as  a  meal,  15. 

the  Eucharistic  service,  15. 

Confirmation  as  a  Christian  rite, 

463,  464m 
Congregation,  first  Christian,  74. 
Coustantine,  the  Emperor,  xx. 
Converts,  their  numbers,  18. 

1  Cor.  Epistle,  136,  137  sq.,  143, 
149,  151,  443. 

2  Cor.  Epistle,  57,   137,   141  sq., 
152. 

Corinth,  109  sq.,  117  sq.,  180, 182. 

its  population,  130  sq. 

factions  at,  136. 

lost  letter  to,  141,  142,  143. 

tumult  at,  145  sq. 

was  closely  related  to  Eome, 

443. 
its  condition  illustrated  by 

Clement's  First  Epistle,  443  sq. 
Cornelius  the  centurion,  41  sq., 

21-6,  464. 
Cos,  157. 
Crescens,  192. 
Crete,  173,  183. 
Crispus,  110,  131. 
Cross,  its  wide  teaching  power, 

499. 
Cumanus,  procurator,  203. 
Cuspius  Fadus,  26n. 
Cyprus,  47,  66,  157,  216. 
Cyrene,  47,  216. 

Dalmatia,  193. 

Damascus    in    relation   to   early 

Christianity,  37. 
David,  and  Son  of  David,  72. 
Deaconess,  483n. 
Deacons,  not  a  name  of  The  Seven, 

29. 


Index. 


531 


Deacons  in  early  church,  335,  336, 

482  sq.,  488. 
Decapolis,  293. 
Defilements  forbidden,  87n. 
Demas,  192,  193,  200n. 
Demetrius,  silversmith,  146,  419. 
Derbe,  77. 
Desposyni,  210. 
Despotes,  321. 
did     roo     al/JioaTos    zoo    Idiou, 

156  n. 
Diaspora  (Christian),  its  area,  33 
sq.,  216  sq.,  298,  362,  482  sq. 

its  influence,  91. 

its  history,  216  sq.,  234,  298, 

304,  482  sq. 

has  probably  given  the  Logia 

of  Jesus,  362. 
Diaspora  (Jewish),  preparing  the 
way  of  the  Gospel,  xvi.,  xxi. 
sq.,  91,  223,  231,  243,  271,  397. 

a   liberalizing  force,  xviii., 

xxiv.,  223. 

its  attitude  toward  Hellenic 

thought,  xxi.  sq.,  xxiv. 

developed    the    moral    and 

spiritual,  xxii.,  223. 
DidachS,  23n.,  49n.,  250  sq.,  309 
sq  ,  344  sq.,  347,  376,  377,  454, 
456,  482,  512  sq. 

its  moral  teaching,  254  sq. 

its  type  of  piety,  258. 

like   Epistle  of   James,    258 

sq.,  279. 

its  ideas  and  period,  258n., 

279,  312,  482. 

object  of  Part  II.,  311  sq. 

as  1  Liturgical,  312  sq. 

Baptism,  313  sq. 
Eucharist,  316  sq.,454, 

455  sq.,  465,  518. 
The  Cup,  322  sq.,  325. 
The  Bread,  323  sq. 

as  2  Ecclesiastical,  328  sq. 

Teacher,  329  sq. 
Prophet,  330  sq. 
Eucharistic  gathering, 

333  sq. 
Ministry,  335  sq.,  485 
sq.,  4*88. 


DidacM,  as  2  Personal  acts,  337. 
Epilogue,  338  sq. 
Eschatology,342  sq. 

its  history,  327,  338. 

its  relation  to  2  Peter,  344  sq. 

its  relation  to  the  Epistle  of 

Jude,  344,  346,  347,  348. 
its  historical  place,  344  sq., 

450. 

its  origins,  515  sq. 

Didaskalia,  337,  492n.,  493n. 
Dion  Cassias,  xiii. 
Diotrephes,  420,  422. 

his  position,  422  sq.,  489. 

Disciples,  are  so  named,  27. 

at  Ephesus,  123  sq. 

Discipline  in  the  church,  492. 
Dispensations,   the  Old  and  the 

New,  89,  90. 

their  relation,  89  sq. 

Docetism,  its  teaching,  429. 
Domitian,  295,  374,  399,  404n., 

414,  415,  439,  442,  521. 
Domitilla,  415,  442. 
Dorcas  in  Joppa,  41. 
Doxologies,  316. 
Drusilla,  167. 
Dualism,  190n. 

Ebionites,  226,  227,  295. 
Ecclesia,  3,  24,  28,  29,  40,  46,  55, 

57,  65,  80,   154.  258,  313,  408, 

459  sq.,  492,  497  sq. 
begins  to  form,  29,  36,  40, 

80,  465  sq.,  480. 
spreads  out,  36,  38  sq.,  47  sq., 

480  sq. 

as  a  Holy  body,  41,  154,  313. 

founded  in  Antioch,  46,  49. 

of   Jerusalem,    50,    61,   91, 

233. 
The   New,  59,  61,  91,  177, 

178,  363,  408. 
The  New  and  Old,  134,  135, 

154,  176  sq.,  217,  408,  459  sq., 

475. 

in  the  house,  192,  465  sq. 

a  Christian  fellowship,  476 

sq.,  492,  493  sq.,  497  sq. 
Ecclesiasticus,  xxii.,  233,  310,  332. 


532 


Index. 


Egypt,  Us  papyri,  xvi.,  xvii. 
Elders,  the,   51,    80,  81,   85,   160, 

180,  288,  333,  484. 

their  election,  80,  484. 

Eleazar,  261. 

Eleazar,  sou  of  Simon,  269. 

Eleven,  the,  10. 

Elijah,  the  forerunner,  xxviii.n. 

Elkesaite  type,  295. 

Elymas  the  Sorcerer,  66,  67,  68. 

eWo/xo?  BiwGis,  248. 

'evroAa?  KuptoUj  257u. 

Epseuetus,  129. 

Epaphras,  185,  187,  191. 

Epaphroditus,  194. 

Ephesians,  Epistle  to  the,  168,  178, 

189,  303. 
Ephesian     Letters    and    Ephesian 

Tales,  125. 
Ephesus,  71,  119, 122n.,  179,  400. 

the  disciples  at,  123. 

its  focus  of  life,  125. 

a  centre  of  worship,  125, 144 

sq.,  400. 

tumult  at,  144  sq. 

Paul's  charge  at,  155,  156. 

Epicureans,  103. 

Epideixeis,  105n. 

Episcope,  449,  450,  452,  491. 

Episkopoi,  156,  489. 

Episcopos  in  New  Testament,  489. 

Epistle  of  Clement  to  James,  333. 

Epistle  to  Diognetus,  506. 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  31. 

Erastus,  130,  182. 

Eschatology,  259n.,  408n. 

ii.  Esdras,  275n. 

Essenes,    xxxiv.    sq. ,  20,   186n., 

187ri.,  205,  222,  246,  255,  295, 

333n. 
Ethiopian   Eunuch   is  baptized, 

35,  36. 
Eubulus,  193. 
Eucharist,  312,  450,  465  sq. 

its  usages,  316  sq.,  465  sq. 

its    idea    pervades    all   the 

church's  services,  453  sq. 

a  sacrifice,  335,  468. 

its  scrutiny,  337. 


Eucharist,  its  Jewish  counter- 
part, 465,  466,  467. 

from   a   sacred   meal,   465, 

468,  470. 

its  offerings  and  fellowship, 

468,  474  sq.,  491. 

Eulogia,  13n.,  468. 

Eunice,  95. 

Euodia,  195. 

Eusebius,  290,  291,  294. 

Eutychus,  153. 

Exorcism,  126. 

Expositor,  103n.,  115u.,  172n.,  174. 

Expository  Times,  xvii. 

Ezra  the  Jew,  xxiv. 

Fair  Havens,  173,  182. 

Faith  in  Christ,  62. 

Famine  in  Syria,  50,  51,  52,  55, 

57,  58,  60,  232. 
Fast  before  baptism,  313n.,  315n. 
Father  of  lights,  234. 
Felix,    164,   165,    166,   167,   203, 

207. 
Fellowship  of  the   church,    464 

sq.,  467  sq.,  476  sq. 
Festus,   Porcius,    170,   172,   173, 

203,  208. 
Flavian  dynasty  took  the  place 

of  the  Julian,  374. 
Flavius  Clemens,  his  accusation 

and  death,  415,  442. 
Florus,  procurator,  203,  261. 
Forgiveness  of  sin,  15. 
Fortunatus,  137,  140. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  248n. 
Gains,  131,  147,  419,  420,  423. 
Galatia,  connection  of  St.   Paul 

with,  53,  54  sq.,  70,  95,  304. 
Galatians,  Epistle  to  the,   84,   85, 

94n.,  110,  116,  185. 
Galha,  268,  374,  521. 
Galilee,    a   home   ol    Christians, 

40n. 
Gallio,  brother  of  Seneca,  117. 
Gamaliel,  26. 
Gematria,  376. 

Genealogies,  patriarchal,  180. 
Gentile  Mission,  41  sq.,  49  sq., 

74  sq. 


Index. 


533 


Gentile  church  gained  iu  Jerusa- 
lem's fall,  274  sq. 
Gentiles,   Gospel   to  the,  47  sq., 

74  sq.,  91. 
their  charity  to  the  Jews, 

223. 
Girl  soothsaying  at  Philippi,  98, 

99. 
yXuxrffa,  12n. 
Glossolalia,  12,  13,  14. 
Gnosis,    wisdom,    122n.,     181n., 

187,  298n.,  347,  375,   377,  382, 

384,  443u.,  515. 
Gnostics,  187,  346   sq.,  401,  458, 

505. 
Golden  Age,  267. 
Gospel  of  St.  Peter,  7u. 
Gospel  of  our  Lord,  337. 
Gospel,    the     preparations    for, 

xiv.  sq., 
as  gradually  realized,  xliii., 

xliv.  383. 
extension    to    the    Gentiles 

47,  383. 
was     first      preached     and 

taught,  352. 
reasons  for  its   assuming  a 

written  form,  352  sq. 
ohscured  by   veils  of  preju- 
dices and  misconceptions,  383. 
Gospels,  their  historical  value,  xi., 

xii.,  370. 
adapted  to   their  time  and 

purpose,  370. 
their  probable  date  of  com- 
position, 370. 
Greek,    Christian    value    of   its 

language,  xvi.  sq. 
that    of    the    early   church 

colloquial,  xvii.,  40n. 
its   Christian    development, 

xvii. 
character  and    influence  of 

its  culture,  xix.  n. 

Hadrian,  273. 

Haggada,  181u. 

Halacha,  181n. 

Harnack,  Prof.,  xiii.n. 

Harris,  Dr.  Rendel,  103n.,  252n. 


Hastings',  Diet,  of  the  Bibli,  ix., 

xiii.,  xxx.,  141u.,  172n. 
Hatch,  Hibbert  Lectures,  105u. 
Hebrew,  use    of   the    language, 

28n. 
Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,   183,  210, 

214,  247,  250,  280  sq.,  506. 
occasion  calling  for   it,  277 

sq.,  294. 

its  author  unkuown,  280 sq. 

position  in  it,  282  sq.,  294, 

460. 

its  date,  289,  291,  297. 

its  allusions  to  Paul's  Epis- 
tles, 303. 
its  relation  to  the  Epistle  of 

Barnabas,  378. 
its  relation  to  the  Didache\ 

378. 
Hegesippus,     32n.,     208u.,    290, 

294,  296. 
Hellenism,    its  culture,    xix.n., 

xviii. 
its    relation    to  Judaism, 

xxiii. 
its   relation    to  the  Gospel, 

230,  288n.,  292. 
Hellenists,  28,  29,  47n.,  66,  292. 
on  a  level  with  the  Hebrews, 

29sq.,47n. 
Heraclitus,  125,  147n. 
Hernias,    Vision    of,    256n.,    314, 

320n.,  334,  385u. 

Shepherd  of,  457. 

Heimogenes,  199n. 

Herod  Agrippa,  51,  57,  161n. 

Herodians,  204. 

Herodotus,  168. 

Hierapolis,  185. 

Hillel,  238u.,  253. 

Hinduism,  xx.,  xxiv. 

Holy  Communion,  its  gifts  and 

fellowship,  474. 
Hort,     Christian    Ecelesia,    23n., 

64n.,  80u.,  87u.,91n.,  95,  475. 
Judaistic  Christianity,  181n., 

303. 
Household,  its  place  in  the  apos- 
tolic church,  465  sq.,  467n. 
Jlypsistos,  God  the  Highest,  98. 


534 


Index. 


Iconiuni,  74,  75,  76,  77,  79. 

idtwrat,  xxxix. 

Idolatry,  125sq.,  145,  146,  147n., 
345. 

Idol-feasts  were  a  great  tempta- 
tion to  Christians,  345,  401. 

Ignatius  Epist.  ad  Bom.,  305, 
324,  422. 

on  church  organization,  490. 

his  spirit  and  teaching,  506. 

Incarnation,  value  of  the,  424. 

Iufant  Baptism,  472. 

Inspiration,  a  pagan  idea  as  well 
as  a  Christian,  381. 

Interpretation  of  tongues,  13. 

Irenseus,  335n.,  383. 

Isaiah  xi.  4 — 342. 

Italic  cohort,  42,  212. 

Izates  of  Adiahene,  43n. 

James,  the  General  Epistle  of, 
230  sq. 

its  relation  to  other  writ- 
ings, 250  sq. 

James,  the  Lord's  brother,  33u., 
61,  84,  86,  208,  215,  218,  350, 
489. 

hia   position,   210,    279  sq., 

298. 

his  form  of  piety,  222  sq., 

227  sq.,  241,  255,  256. 

his  attitude  toward  unbe- 
lieving Jews,  228  sq.,  231  sq. 

toward   the    orthodox,    241 

pq. 

on  faith  and  works,  241  sq. 

gives  Jesus'   teaching,   247 

sq. 
his   death,   279,  283,  289n., 

350. 
James,  the  son   of  Zebedee,   51, 

215,  217,  231. 
Jason,  a  Jew,  101,  102. 
Jerome,  491. 
Jerusalem,  vii.,  182. 
St.  Paul's  visits  at,  39  sq., 

53  sq.,  83  sq.,  158  sq. 

first  council  at,  81  sq. 

decree  of  the  council,  87  sq., 

94,  223. 


Jerusalem,    the   apostolic    letter 
from,  88,  89,  94,  223. 

later    troubles    with     the 

Eomans,  260  sq. 

left  by  the  Christians,  263, 

289  sq. 

its   fall,   265   sq.,   270    sq., 

342,  370,  371,  373n. 
Jesus,  the  Messiah  and  teacher, 
xli.',  14, 19,  21,  72,  73,  132,  176. 

His  message,  xli.  sq.,72, 131. 

effect    of  The   Temptation, 

xliii.n. 

His  Name  as  Messianic,  19, 

22,  27. 

fact    of   His    Resurrection, 

4  sq.,  19  sq.,  72,  73. 

the  Saviour,  131. 

the  thoughts  of  His  second 

coming,  342  sq. 
Jesus  Bar  Ananias,  212,  289n. 
Jesus  (Justus),  191. 
Jewish  legends,  myths,  etc.,  180, 

181n.,  183. 
Jew  and  Gentile  in  Christ,  61  sq., 
73,    81   sq.,   90,    91,   160,   177, 
225,  343. 

the  essential  unity,  83,  84, 

160. 

their  mutual  charity,  87,  88, 

90,  160. 

their   relation    toward   the 

Gospel,  168  sq.,  343,  381. 
Jews  becoming  naturalized,  73n. 

at  Lystra,  79. 

their  legal  yoke,  86  sq.,  186. 

at  Rome,  176  sq. 

in  Galatia,  185. 

at  Colossse,  186. 

their   condition   before    the 

Roman  war,  260  sq. 

their  violence,  262  sq. 

their  later  fate,  273. 

under  Barcochba,  294. 

John,  Apostle,  vii.,  22,  84,  218, 
506,  524  sq. 

his  Gospel,  xi.,  323  sq.,  416, 

417. 

sent  to  the  Samaritans,  34. 

went  to  Ephesus,  290. 


Index. 


535 


John,   Lis   apocalypse,    372,   389 

sq.,  415. 
bis    view    of    the    church, 

395  sq.,  506. 

his  exile  to  Patinos,  399. 

date   of  his   writings,   408, 

438. 

change   on   his   views   and 

t-pirit,  408. 

his    view   of    the    Konian 

power,  409  sq. 

date  and  place  of  writing 

the  apocalypse,  415. 

at   Ephesus,    408,   418   sq., 

425. 

his  opposition  to  Cerinthus, 

431. 

his    pronounced    idealism, 

432  sq. 

his  personality,  437. 

his   tone  of  thought  mys- 
tical, 440,  441. 

John,  First  Epistle,  423  sq.,  439. 
its  historical  value  and  po- 
sition, 423  sq. 

gives  an  application  of  The 

Truth  to  life,  423. 

teaches  only  the  old  truth, 

427. 
dwells  upon  the  Incarnation, 

428. 

explanatory  of  the  Gospel, 

436. 

John,   Second  and  Third  Epistles, 

418  sq. 

their  historical  val  ue,  418  sq. 

John,    St.,    Gospel    according    to, 

434  sq. 

its  use  of    "The  Word," 

434  sq. 

its  motive  and  real  place, 

435,  436. 

its  construction,  437,  438. 

■■ its  appendix,  438,  439. 

its  date,  438. 

John  of  Gischala,  264,  269. 
John  Baptist,   44,  121,  122,  221, 

222,  435. 
John  Mark,  52.  62,  65,  68,  69,  70, 

92,  93,  366,  367. 


Joseph  Baraabbas,  216. 

Josephus,  Jewish  historian,  xii., 
xiii.,  xxiii.,  xxxv.,  xxxvi., 
43u.,  119u.,  127u.,  210,  212, 
263,  270,  271,  274. 

Judseo-Christianity,  277  sq. 

Judaizers,  45n.,  224  sq. 

at  Corinth,  132  sq. 

challenged  Paul's  authority, 

133. 

Judaism  in  relation  to  Christian- 
ity, xiv.,  xviii.,  xxiv.  sq.,  81 
sq.,  122,  225  sq.,  275  sq.,  390, 
400. 

changed  in  the  dispersion, 

xviii.,  xxi. 

its    influence    on    Gentile 

thought,  xxi.  sq. 

value  of  the  Alexandrine, 

xxiii. 

Palestinian,   xxiv.   sq.,    81 

sq.,218sq.,  254. 

its  learning  from  the  exile, 

xxv.  sq. 

later  types   of,    xxxi.    sq., 

218  sq.,  254. 

sects   under,   20,  204,  218, 

219. 

its  propaganda,  82  sq. 

at  Eome,  176,  204. 

question  of  its  continuance 

to  bind,  380. 

after   A.  D.    70   its  aspect 

changed,  390. 

Judas  Barsabas,  88. 
Judas  Iscariot,  llu. 
Judas  of  Galilee,  26n.,  232. 
Jude,  the  Lord's  brother,  350. 
Jude  and  his  grandsons,  296. 

relatiou   of  his   Epistle   to 

the  Didache,  344. 

its  relation   to  2  Peter,  344 

sq.,  400,  401,  405,  518  sq. 

its  date,  350. 

Junias,  215. 

Justin  Martyr,  325,  335,  385n. 

KalonayaOo^,  195u. 

Kindnesses,  the  bestowal  of, 
xxxi. 


536 


Index. 


Kiss  of  peace,  325,  337. 
Knowledge,  its  boast  aud  danger, 
348  sq. 

the  true  and  false  view  of, 

432,  440. 

Laodicea,  185,  400. 

Lasea,  173,  182. 

Last  Days,  232. 

Law  of  Moses,  83,  91,  219  sq. 

on  its  moral  side,  220. 

■ of  Liberty,  235,  248. 

Laying  on  of  bauds,  35,  65. 
Leitourgoi,  Leitourgia,  450. 
Libertini,  30. 
Lightfoot  Bp.,  xiii.u.,  xiv.,  86n., 

197u.,  200n.,  201. 
Linus  Roman  bisbop,  193,  457. 
Little    ones,    Christ's,   xxxviii., 

xxxix. 
Liturgy,  450. 
AOriA  IHE0Y:   Sayings  of  our 

Lord,   by  Grenfell    and  Hunt, 

355n. 
Logia  of    Christ,    353  sq.,    445, 

445u. 
quoted  in  full,  356,  357. 

their   relation    to  the  Gos- 
pels, 357  sq. 

their   probable    interpreta- 
tion, 362. 

Logia-manual,  361. 

Lois,  95. 

Lord's  Day,  333. 

Lord's  Prayer  in  Didache',  315  sq. 

Lord's  Supper  at  Philippi,  153. 

its  Jewish  model,  465,  466. 

in  the  evening,  469. 

Love,   when  true,   spiritual  and 
■wholesome,  347  sq.,  493. 

when    false,    deadly,    348, 

349. 

really   the    true   Christian 

motive,  493  sq. 

Love-meal,  322,  325,  348,  465  sq. 

the  Methodist,  474. 

Lucius  of  Cyrene,  64. 
Luke,  author  of  the  Gospel  and 
the  Acts,  lsq.,  410  sq.,  509  sq. 


Luke,  his  personality  in  his  writ- 
ings, 21,  24,  25,  25n.,  26n., 
32n.,  38u.,  45u.,  65u.,  68,  97, 
149,  155,  156n.,  168,  410  sq. 

the  brother,  100n.,  151. 

his  artistic  authorship,  168, 

410,  416. 

his  plan  in  composing  the 

Acts,  168  sq.,  171  sq.,  364  sq., 
410  sq.,  414. 

companion   of    Paul,    192, 

193,  194. 

his  relation  to  the  Christian 

traditions,  364  sq. 

date  of  bis  narrative,  364, 

370,  416. 

spirit  of  his  narrative,  365 

sq.,  370,  414. 

his    view  of   the    Roman 

power,  410  sq.,  414. 

his  view  of  Christ,  416. 

his  view  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 

416  sq. 
Lycus  valley,  185,  191. 
Lydia  at  Philippi,  98,  100. 
Lystra,  77,  78. 

Matthias,  Apost.,  11,  216. 
Melita,  174. 
Memoirs  of  Peter,  368. 
Messiah,  as  a  hope  to  the  Jews, 

xxviii.,  21,  31. 
as  a  personal  teacher,  xxviii. 

sq.,  31. 
many  pretenders,  26u.,  35n., 

162. 
as  a  hope  to  the  later  Chris- 
tians, 282  sq. 
Messianic    Hope,  xxvii.,  xxviii., 

xxxix.,  2,  3,  34,  39,  121u.,  176, 

210,  228  sq.,  295,  299. 
kingdom,  xxx.,   2,   61,  228, 

231,    232,    275,    277   sq.,    294, 

296n.,  319,  321,  322. 

salvation,  35u.,  44. 

faith,  45. 

ideal  realized  in  Jesus,  132, 

210,  222. 
Methnrgeman,  reader,  xxxix. 
Miletus,  155,  171,  180,  182,  185. 


Index. 


537 


Minim,  295. 

Ministry,  the  Christian,  449  sq., 

451  sq.,  477  sq.,  482  sq. 

marking  off  began  for,  487. 

Mitylene,  155. 
Mnasou,  a  Cypriot,  158. 
Mucianus,  270. 
Mvra,  157. 
My  sin,  96. 
Mysticism,  440. 
Maccabees,  The,  xxv. 
Macedonia,    Paul's    call   to,    96, 

139,  179. 
McGiffert,  Prof.  A.  C,  x.,  32n., 

70,  133u. 
his  opinion  as  to  the  author 

of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  x. 
Magic,  126  sq.,  127n. 

at  Ephesus,  126  sq. 

Magnificat,  222,  235. 

Malta,  175. 

Mammon,  237u. 

Mauaen,  64. 

Marcion  of  Pontus,  506. 

Marcion  of  Sinope,  305n. 

Mark  the  Evangelist,   27n.,    44, 

191,  192,  290,  304n.,  366,  370. 
genesis  of  his  Gospel,  366n., 

367,  368. 
his     connection     with    St. 

Peter,  366  sq. 

tradition  of  his  death,  367n. 

Mary,    mother    of   John    Mark, 

52. 
Masada,  261,  273. 
Matthew's  Gospel,  353  sq. 

its  probable  date,  353,  370. 

the  spirit  and   aim  of  his 

narrative,  369  sq. 

Name,  the  baptismal,  313n. 

Narcissus,  197u. 

Neapolis,  97. 

Nehemiah,  the  prophet,  xxiv. 

Nero,    170,    171,    184,    264,  266, 

269,   306,   310,   338,   374,   387, 

391,    392,   393,   399,  404,   412, 

455,  521,  523n.,  524. 
Saga,    on  his  reappearance, 

266  sq.,  374,  521. 


New   Testament,   its  chronology 

difficult,  372. 
first  imperfectly  understood 

and  taught,  383. 
Nicauor,  29. 

Nicolaitans,  345a.,  347,  401,  405. 
Nicolaus  of  Antioch,  29,  36,  401. 
Nicopolis,  183. 
Nympha,  192. 

Octavia,  184. 

Old  Testament,  how  dealt  with 

by  the  Hellenists,  382. 
Onesimus,  129,  190. 
Ouesiphorns,  76,  199n. 
Ordination  by  the  Spirit,  65. 

as  an  ecclesiastical  rite,  488. 

Otho,  268. 

Oxyrhynchus  papyrus,  xii.,  355. 

Tzaidita,  248n. 
Partition  Theories,  201. 
Palestine's  condition,  203  sq. 
Paley's  Horss  Paulinse,  viii. 
Pamphylia,  69,  70,  81. 
■xavoupyos,  134. 
I  Pantheism,  106. 
Papias,  on  the  Gospels,  353,  366, 

418n. 
Parchments,  the,  193. 
Parmenas,  29. 
Parousia,  113, 114,  228,  257n.,  277 

299n.,  309  sq.,  395,  473. 
Patara,  157. 
Paul,    Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 

vii.,  xv.,  xix.,  4,  40,68  sq.,  89, 

218,  460  sq. 
historical   character  of  his 

Epistles,  viii.  sq. 
date     of     his    conversion, 

xiii.n.,  460. 
his  value  to  the  world,  xix., 

xx.,  460  sq. 
as  Saul  at  Stephen's  death, 

33,  213. 
his  conversion,  37,  38,  214, 

217. 
why  he  retired  to  the  desert, 

38. 


538 


Index. 


Paul,  conference  with  St.  Peter, 
39. 

first  Christian  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem, 39,  40,  57,  217. 

his  chronology,   52  sq.,   65, 

136,  140,   154,  200n.,  304,  306. 

on  the  foreign  mission  field, 

53  sq. 

his  new  revelation,  56. 

his  first  missionary  journey, 

62  sq.,  64  sq. 

■  his  apostleship,  65. 

the  Roman,  68,  108, 163, 165, 

200. 

his    "stake  in  the   flesh," 

70. 

its  direct  object,  70,  71. 

his  sufferings,  75. 

at  Lystra,  78,  79., 

at  Jerusalem  Council,  83  sq., 

225  sq. 

his  second  missionary  jour- 
ney, 92  sq. 

imprisoned  at  Philippi,  99. 

release  from  prison,  99. 

at  Thessalonica,  101  sq. 

at  Athens,  103  sq. 

his  address  at  Athens,  106 

sq. 

at  Corinth,  109  sq.,  117  sq. 

his  character  in  his  letters, 

110  sq. 

his  teaching  on  Christ's  re- 
turn, 113  sq. 

at  Ephesus,  119  sq.,  124  sq., 

136  sq. 

his  vow,  119. 

his  handicraft,  124. 

in  the  tumult  at  Ephesus, 

144  sq. 

goes  to  Macedonia,  149  sq. 

plot  against,  152-3. 

at  Philippi,  153. 

at  Cassarea,  158. 

at  Jerusalem,  158  sq. 

charges  against,  160  sq. 

his  purification,  161,  162. 

is  arrested,  162. 

claims  his  citizenship,   163. 

165. 


Paul,  by  birth  a  Pharisee,  164. 

was  conspired  against,  164. 

was  sent  to  Caesarea,  164  sq. 

before  Felix,  164  sq.,  172. 

received  financial  aid,  167, 

194. 
his    death,    170,    171,    304, 

305,  368,  391. 

his  journey  to  Rome,  172  sq. 

at  Rome,  175  sq.,  184  sq. 

his  last  days,  199  sq. 

toward  Mosaic  legalism,  225 

sq. 

his  type  of  piety,  256. 

in  face  of  current  specula- 
tions, 344  sq. 
his    view    of    the    Roman 

power,  391,  409. 
his  view  of  Ephesus  and  its 

religious  condition,  402. 
gaveantinomian  tendencies, 

439. 
his  broad  idea  of  the  Gospel, 

497  sq. 
his  new  view  of  The  Law, 

500  sq. 

his  Pastorals,  511  sq. 

Paulinism,  499  sq.,  513,  514. 
Pella,  289,  290,  292,  294. 
Perga,  69,  70,  81. 
Pergamum    and    its    temple   of 

^Esculapius,  398,  399,  400,  401. 
Persecution   was   from   the  best 

rulers,  411,  413,  442  sq. 
an  assertion  of  the  state's 

claim  to  obedience,  413,  414. 

under  Domitian,  439,  442  sq. 

Peter,  apostle  of  the  Jews,  vii., 

14,  18,  21,  22,  24,  31,  35,  39, 

62,  216,  218,  224  sq.,  297  sq. 
his  testimony  to  the  resur- 
rection, 6,  21. 
his  testimony  to  the  gift  of 

the  Spirit,  14,  15. 
question  as  to  the  use  of  his 

shadow,  25. 

sent  to  the  Samaritans,  34. 

on  Cornelius'  conversion,  41 

sq.,  216. 
at  Antioch,  49  sq. 


Index. 


539 


Peter  in  prison  in  Jerusalem,  51, 
57,  217. 

his  vacillation   at  Antiocb, 

60,  22-4  sq. 

■ at  the  council  in  Jerusalem, 

86. 

at  Lydda  and  Joppa,  41  sq. 

216. 

his  view  of  unbelieving  Is- 
rael, 229  sq. 

his  position  in  relation  to 

James,  279,  293,  299. 

at  Rome  (Babylon),  297  sq. 

his  movements,  297  sq.,  300. 

why  at  Rome,  298,  305. 

in  relation  to  Paul's  teach- 
ing, 299  sq. 

probably  at  Rome,  305. 

a  martyr,  306. 

his  title  to  exhort,  307. 

his    relation    to    the    early 

traditions,  364  sq. 

his   relation    to  St.    Mark, 

366. 

his  date  and  death,  306,  366, 

391 

Peter,'  Epistles  of  251,  297,   306 
sq.,  344  sq. 

their  relation  to  Jude,  518  sq. 

Peter,  Second  Epistle,   its  rela- 
tion to  the  Didache,  344. 

Pharisaism,  219  sq.,  239,  243. 

Pharisees,  xxx.,xxxi.sq.,xxxviii. 
sq.,  21,  206,  222,  236. 

among  the  converts,  85. 

Philadelphia,  398,  400. 

Philemon,  192. 

Philemon,  Epistle  to,  178,  190. 

Philip  (the  Evang.),  27n.,  29,  34, 
37,  157. 

baptizes  the  Eunuch,  35,  36. 

one  of  The  Seven,  157. 

Philippi,  97,  144,  153  sq.,  192  sq. 

Philippians,    Epistle    to   the,    178, 
194,  198. 

Philo  xiii.,  180n.,  222,  382,  434. 

Philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  186u. 

Phoebe,  483n. 

Phoenicia,  47,  157. 

Phygelus,  199n. 


Physicians,  246n. 
Pilate,  Pontius,  27n.,  33u. 
Plato,  and  the  Stoics,  xxiii. 
Plautius,    conqueror  of  Britain, 

442n. 
Pliny,  Eld.,  xiii. 
Pliny,  Yr.,  xiii.,  146,  469,  483. 

his  report,  469  sq. 

Politarchs,  101,  102. 

Polycarp,  194,  458u.,  482n.,  506. 

Polytheism,  106. 

Pompeiani,  301n. 

Pomponia  Grseciua,  442n. 

Poppaea,  184. 

Prsetorium,  197. 

Praetors,  Roman  officers,  99. 

Preparations  for  the  Gospel,  xiv. 

sq. 
Presbyter,  John,  366. 
Princeps  peregrinorum,  184. 
Prochorus,  29. 
Prophesyings,  116n. 
Prophets  in  Didache,  318,  328  sq., 

450,  485. 
Proseuche  at  Philippi,  97. 
Protos,  or  Head  man,  175. 
'I'aAfjLo?,  I3u. 

Psalms  of  Solomon,  xxviii.,  320. 
Ptolemais,  157. 
Pudens,  193. 
Puteoli,  175. 

Quiet  in  the  land,  The,  xxxvi.  sq., 

205,  235. 
the    group    that    gave   the 

first  Christians,  xxxvi.,  xxxvii., 

xxxviii.,  xxxix.,  19n. 
Quirinius  and  the  census,  27n. 

Rabban  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel, 
228n. 

Rabbi,  an  object  of  ambition, 
244. 

Rabbinism,  xxxvii. 

Ramsay,  Prof.  W.  M.,  ix.,  x., 
xiii.n.,  xiv.,  xv.,  27n.,  38n., 
42n.,  45n.,  53,  55,  56u.,  58,  70, 
72n.,  79,  96m,  99n„  101u„ 
104,  110n.,  146m,  171,  173, 
174,  197u.,  198,  410. 


540 


Index. 


Ramsay,  his  estimate  of  St.  Paul's 

letters,  ix.,  x. 
Revelation,  [See  Apocalypse]. 
Reformation  of  the  16th  century, 

xv. 
Resurrection,  its  teaching  power, 

xxxviii.,  107,  164,  286. 

jeered  at  in  Athens,  107. 

Resurrection  of  Christ,  1  sq. 

as  related  by  St.  Paul,  4. 

Rhodes,  157. 

Rich  and  poor,  234  sq. 

Robinson,  canon,  478. 

Roman  citizen,  163. 

Roman   Empire,   preparatory   to 

the  Gospel,  xv.  sq.,  168  sq. 
its  change  of  thought  and 

feeling,  xx.,  81,  390  sq. 
its  true  relation  to  the  Gos- 
pel, 168  sq.,  411  sq.,  446. 
its   relation   to  the   Jewish 

Church,  204,  409. 
as  the  world  power  and  the 

Beast,  390  sq.,  409. 
as  it  appeared  to  St.  Luke, 

411  sq. 
cared  most    for  the  public 

welfare,  411,  413,  446. 
Romans,   Epistle  to  the,  152,  175, 

303,  443,  444. 
Rome,    early    Christian     centre, 

133n. 

Paul's  voyage  to,  168. 

Paul  at,  175. 

its  cryptic  name   Babylon, 

297,  305. 
had   many   religiones  licitae, 

412u. 
its   close   connection    with 

Corinth,  443  sq. 
not  quite  a  competent  judge 

of  Corinthian  affairs,  446,  447. 

Sabatier,  249. 

Sacred  meal  of  Thanksgiving,  322. 

Sadducees,xxxiii.,  19,  26,  30,  236, 

241. 
tlieir  position  and  teaching, 

xxxiii.  sq.,  21,  25,  204,  209. 
Salvation  in  fellowship,  460,  498. 


Samaria,  as  a  mission  field,  34. 
Samoa,  155. 
Sainothrace,  97. 
Sanhedrin,  30,  32,  163. 
Sardes,  400. 
Saul,  [See  Paul]. 
Sayings  of  the  Fathe7S,  xxxi. 
Sayings  of  Ahikar,  252. 
Scribes,  xxxi. 
Secrets  of  Enoch,  252n. 
Semichah,  28. 
Seneca,  184. 

Septuagint  Version,  382. 
Sergius  Paulus,  66  sq.,  68n. 
Sibylline     Oracles,     xxii.u.,    267, 

338,  340,  341n.,  468u. 
Sicarii,  207. 
Silas,  88,   92,   100,  101,  103,  109, 

281,  300,  304. 

in  jail  at  Philippi,  99. 

Simeon,  the  righteous,  xxxi. 

Simon,  son  of  Gioras,  269. 

Simon  Magus,  35,  66. 

Sinop6,  300,  304. 

Smyrna,  398,  400. 

Solifidianisni,  243. 

Solomon,  and  magical   lore,   126 

sq.,  127n. 
Solomon's  Porch,  18,  25. 
Sosthenes,     archisynagogos,     117, 

118,  137. 
Spain,  152. 
Spermologos,  104n. 
Spirit,  Pentecostal  gift  of  the,  11, 

121. 
renewed,  23,  34,  35,  44,  116, 

121,  123,  462,  463,  477,  486. 
was   resisted   by  the  Jews, 

31. 

in  baptism,  68n.,  123. 

guided  St.  Paul,  95,  96,  154. 

question    as    to    His  gifts, 

116. 
as    viewed    by    St.    Luke, 

416  sq. 
Stephanas,     the     household     of, 

108n.,  140. 

a  Greek,  131,  137,  140. 

Stephen,  the  martyr,   27  sq.,   30 

sq.,  213,  227,  480. 


Index. 


541 


Stephen,   his  trial  and  defeuce, 
30  sq. 

death,  33. 

a  Hellenist,  30,  33. 

Stoics,  103,  107,  147u. 

Strabo,  304u. 

Strangers,  in  Didache,  332. 

Straiopedarch,  184. 

Suetonius,  xiii.,  109. 

ffuva%07jvat,  48u. 

Sjmeon,   bishop    in    Jerusalem, 

210,  290,  296,  490. 
Symeon  Niger,  64. 
Synagogue,  72,   74,   75,   77,   101, 

110,  258,  455. 

its     influence    upon      the 

church's  services,  455  sq. 

Synoptic   Gospels,  xi.,  435,   441, 

525. 
Syutyche,  195. 
Synzygus,  195. 
Syria,  69. 
Syrian  legions,  269. 

Tacitus,  the  historian,  xiii.,  184n., 

301n.,  412n., 
Targum,  xxxix. 
Tarsus,  104. 
Teaching  of  the   Tivelve  Apostles, 

[See  Didache]. 
Temple,  its  destruction,  273. 

as  built,  292. 

Temple  of  God,   its  interpreta- 
tion, 396n. 
Temple-worsbip,  223. 

it  ceased,  272. 

ripfia  z?j$  86g£lu$,  201. 
Tertullus,  165,  197,  383. 
Testament  of  Solomon,  127n.,  186n., 

346n. 
Testaments,  of   the    Twelve    Patri' 
archs,  230. 

The  brethren,  88. 

The  Church,  40. 

The  door  of  faith.  68. 

The  Elders,  51. 

The  Eleven,  28. 

The  Evangelist,  29. 

The  Father  of  lights,  234. 


The    Keys    of    the    Kingdom    of 

heaven,  41. 
The  Kingdom  of  God,  34. 
The  Leader  of  Life,  25u. 
The  Poor  Saints,  120. 
The  Quid  in  the  Land,  xxxvii.sq., 

205,  235. 
The  Resurrection,  104. 
The  Righteous  One,  32. 
The  Seven,  28,  29,  51,  157. 
The  Son  of  God,  39. 
The  Son  of  Man,  32. 
The  Spirit  of  Jesus,  96. 
The  Tradition  of  the  Elders,  219, 

220. 
The  Twelve,  28. 
The  Way  of  God,  121,  219. 
The  Way  of  Jesus,  209. 
The  Way  of  the  Lord,  121. 
The  Ways  of  the  Lord,  the  straight 

tvays,  67. 
The  Word  of  God,  28. 
The  Word  of  the  Lord,  74. 
The  Word  of  Truth,  234. 
The  Words  of  this  Life,  25n. 
Theophilus,  "your  Excellency," 

170,  410,  415. 
a  Christian  convert,  410,  411, 

416. 
a  high  Koman  officer,  411, 

415. 
perhaps  one  of  Domitian's 

victims,  416. 
Tlierapeutse,  186n. 
Thessalonians,     the     Epistles    to, 

110  sq. 
an  earlier  Epistle  lost,  103n., 

115n. 
Epistles  compared  with  that 

to  Galatians,  116. 
Thessalonica,  100,  102n. 

riot  at,  101. 

Jews  of,  102. 

Theudas,  26,  232. 

Thorah,  xxxi.,  204,  219,220,253, 

263. 
Threefold  act  in  baptism,  313n. 
Thyatira,  400. 
Tiberius  Alexander,  270. 
Tigellinus,  184. 


542 


Index. 


Timon,  29. 

Timothy,  73d.,  75,  93,  100,  103, 
109,  124,  130,  136n.,  138,  142, 
143,  149,  193  sq.,  198,  211,  281. 

was  circumcised,  94. 

bow  set  apart,  95. 

at  Ephesus,  179  sq. 

at  Home,  192. 

Timothy,  Epistles  to,  178,  180,  198. 
Titius  Justus,  at  Corinth,  110. 
Titus,   69u.,   100,  143,   144,   149, 
150,   151,    152,    174,  183,    192, 
193   393. 
Titus' Rom.  Emp.,  269,  270,  271 

sq.,  291,  293,  374,  413,  521. 
Titus,  Epistle  to,  178. 
Tobit,  252,  253n. 
Tongues,  Pentecostal  gift  of,  11, 

12. 
Town-clerk  at  Ephesus,  148. 
Thucydides,  ix. 

Tradition   as    embodied    in    the 
Logia  of  Jesus    and   Didaclie, 
352  sq. 
as  affecting  the  Gospel  nar- 
ratives, 363  sq. 
Tradition  of  the   Elders,  xxxi., 

xxxii. 
Trajan,  274,  469. 
Troas,  96,  97.  144,  149,  150,  153, 

180,  193. 
Trophimus,  129,  152,  162,  183. 
Truth    (The),   its    apprehension, 

425,  426. 
Turner,  C.  H.,  xiii.n.,  xiv. 
Two   Ways,  the  Syrian,   250  sq., 
309  sq.,  377. 

the  idea  is  widespread,  251. 

as  applied  to  different  men, 

350  sq. 

its  affinities  in  the  Epistle 

of  Jude,  350. 


Tychicus,  129,  152,  183,  192,  193. 
Tvrannus,  rhetorician,  124,  147. 
Tyre,  157. 
Trypho,  335. 


Vespasian,  165u.,  264,  266,  269, 
270,  274,  293,  295,  374,  392, 
399,  405,  411,  413,  521. 

Via  Egnatia,  100. 

Viudex,  266. 

Vine  of  David,  320,  321. 

Virgil,  perhaps  knew  of  Judaism, 
xxii.n. 

his  teaching,  267. 

Vitellius,  268,  270. 

Vows,  337. 

"Way  of  Life,  254  sq. 

Way  of  Death,  257  sq. 

We  passages  in  The  Acts,  50n., 

97,  509  sq. 
Wesseley,      Ephcsia     Grammata, 

127n. 
West,  the,  202. 
Widows,  God's  altar,  468n. 
Wisdom-literature,  358  sq. 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  xxii.,  230. 
Wisdom  (G<>fia),  332n. 
Witchcraft,  126n.,  127. 
Word,  The,  a  Johannine  concept, 

434  sq. 
World,  its  millennial  close,  377n. 
Worship,  The,  xxxi. 

Zahn,  194n. 

Zealots,  206  sq.,  265,  269,  271. 

C^Aop,  305. 

Zenas,  183. 

Zeus,  at  Lystra,  78. 


COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY   LIBRARIES 

This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated  below,  or  at  the 
expiration  of  a  definite  period  after  the  date  of  borrowing,  as 
provided  by  the  library  rules  or  by  special  arrangement  with 
the  Librarian  in  charge. 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

DATE  BORROWED 

DATE  DUE 

C28(  251  )  SOOM 

5315024814 

:n,TTLE  DO  NOT 
951>6PHOTOCOPY  Bf8 


ao 

—t 
o 


>o 


-* 

ao 

m 

<\J 

a> 

CO 

